www.melaniepullen.com
contact: melanie@melaniepullen.com
Media Relations - Nicole Brian: info@melaniepullen.com

FP: Melanie, in response to your series of "High End Fashion Crimes," where did you first get the idea to shoot these vintage looking scenes...are you a fan of Weegee or are you literally interpreting certain crime scene photographs from archives? You must be a fan of the Black Dahlia stories...

MP: I actually began the series due to a negative reaction I had to having been accidentally exposed to horrific crime scene images. It was something that really haunted me for several years. I found though as time went by I grew desensitized to violent imagery and in fact became drawn to it and more curious about the details. This realization was something that led to extensive internalization on my part and when I pegged the reason why I had grown this way I realized that it was due to a major shift in the media, films and other outlets and constant exposure to these. High Fashion Crime Scenes is about exploring societies desensitization, glamorization and exploitation of people's tragedies and its use for selfish gain.

In my series, I'm doing the most tasteless of all things: I'm taking someone's tragic death (based on actual crime scene photographs, Weegee's work being one of the sources of material) and literally recreating them almost exactly. But in the place of the victim I have placed beautiful models wearing high fashion clothing such as Prada, Gucci, etc...

So after over 10 years of working with High Fashion Crime Scenes, I have become a fan of crime scene images and probably know more about the subject than most. My mind took a turn. But to clarify I am not a fan of the horror – I have more of a sense of intrigue to how the victim ended up in that situation... the untold story – the one the picture only gives us a subtle glimpse of. These images are the equivalent to the ending of an epic movie but even more interesting because it's real, a fingerprint on the past. The real pictures open doors to questions and make us curious.

I'm also a fan of many of the early crime-scene images. You can tell by the great ones that they were taken by artists and they have a certain composition, a dark beauty. Crime Scene images also are a very strong part of our history as they used to be published in news papers – they are what made the mob so infamous in NY.

The Black Dahlia murder is a classic example of the public's fascination with beauty. There have been many murders that have happened as interesting as this but because it happened to a beautiful woman it became front page news and people bought papers. Which is a tactic we see exploited by the nightly news on a far grander scale nowadays.

FP: There is a bit of a gothic quality, a certain darkness in your work. Have you always been drawn to that?

MP: I'm fascinated by dichotomies and subtleties. The darker side of humanity is something I think should be deeply explored and confronted – not shied away from. I feel the darkest side though comes well veiled – I've learned that from traveling through communist countries and extensively studying the different media outlets. But then on the opposing side of the coin, you go somewhere like Mexico and it's raw, in full color with all the gruesome details but it's a different culture and a great one at that. In Mexico death is not dirty and scandalous like it is here. People are drawn to it and celebrate it there. It's looked at as an acknowledgment of having lived, the final moment in a story and something important – it's a time to look back and reflect on ones greatness and the story they told by living. I believe that's a healthier and more optimistic view of the subject.

FP: Have you ever been criticized for using your female models as victims? It's interesting to do work like this and still be a feminist...for example, I have done many current film posters where the trend right now is leaning towards a dramatic iconic image of a woman screaming or in bondage/in dire straights...I say "iconic" because it definitely showcases the woman in the helpless role of "woman in peril," something we have learned since our fairy tale days – and it is arresting, undoubtedly, that juxtaposition of beauty and violence. What do you think?

MP: I was really playing with the media's exploitation of women for commercial profit – this insidious advertising. It's hypnotic how the nightly news will report on horrid crimes and then cut to a Dove soap commercial. A crime on a beautiful woman is powerful. It's what sets off a media frenzy. I once spoke to a journalist – he happened to be on site minutes after a horrid commercial plane crash in India. He said he got the most incredible images to show the scene. The media in the end wouldn't buy the images because they thought that people wouldn't be interested in the images of Indian people. Had it been a plane of perfect Caucasian women it would have been bought in a second and the ratings would have been through the roof.

FP: Regarding the technicality of your work, I have read that you enlist entire crews to produce your shoots...so they take on a cinematic quality. What is this like and how long does one shoot take?

MP: It really depends on the image. I don't get more people than I need as that works against me in getting the image but at times I've needed nearly 100 people, when you include the talent and others I just need a model and not even an assistant. I am always weary and careful when I have large crews as sometimes you can get so technical that you loose the art of the image. So despite the size I am always willing to throw an image away if it's not what I want.

To be honest, I prefer a smaller group. It's much easier to navigate – but you do need enough people so you're not missing important moments and wasting time.

The real time comes in printing. I do all of my own printing with the help of some amazing technicians and I do all my own spotting – it's very time consuming (sometimes taking a month to get one image perfect).

FP: Do you think that you might ever direct a film? I see it as a natural segway for you...and there definitely aren't enough female directors out there!

MP: I think at some point I may direct a film but right now I'm really focused on creating story lines in single shots and then bringing together an entire series with their own meaning. It's an amazing time to be in the visual arts – specifically photography or film – a good comparison would be to have been musician in the first 150 years of it's invention (if there ever was such a thing) we have so much leverage and so few rules – it's all uncharted territory, things are new and haven't been done and it's very exciting for people who take their mediums in this field seriously to be at the forefront of such constant innovation. It's a monumental time and I'm very happy to be doing what I'm doing right now. As I'm seeing film slip away from still photographers and digital advancements fly forward I'm working with both and creating this symbiotic relationship between the two – things that people don't understand yet and really are not able to be replicated technically due to the slippage of film stocks. I love it.

FP: Has your work always had connection to fashion? And where do you get all the costumes/props from? Do you select them all yourself?

MP: I occasionally work with costumers especially on my new series Violent Times. Costumes were so much a part of the series and really had to be perfect. The costumes took years and a lot of help to make perfect. For High Fashion Crime Scenes it was more about giving a victim a subtle identity. Clothing tells a story and is something that I enjoy illustrating my images with - but it's always something I aim to make timeless.

FP: Can you talk a bit about your new work, the work currently at Ace Gallery in Los Angeles..."Violent Times" Where did the idea for this originate? And again, are the uniforms original, if so what was the difficulty in acquiring them?

MP: The soldier portion of Violent Times, a series of 48 male models dressed as iconic soldiers that span historic battles and armies, came from historic methods of painting and early war propaganda. This series is very deep which is something again that I play with – I always try to give something the appearance of looking shallower, simple and a kind of test to the viewer's intellect – the dichotomies are so important in my work and the work really needs to be thought about – people who just run through the gallery will just see a lot of pretty pictures but if they look a story will unveil itself. I always get annoyed by critics who see no more than a pretty picture with nice lighting, as I no longer respect them – they have to look as there's always a story.

A large inspiration for me is if you look at early war portraiture and painted battle scenes they're very beautiful and in fact painters would often cast male models to pose for these images. We literally have had this glamorization of war painted for us and idealized and it's something that we have carried forward with war journalism – the images that we have to represent our past are chosen for us. We see wars, violence painted by a frozen moment but we don't see the whole thing as we're only given the viewpoint of the photographer and a still picture that in the end shows the moment the journalist feels like showing. This series has highly cinematic qualities a kind of questionable mannequin-like way. I'm also playing with the concept of idealization of war as a child and making my models act like toy – soldiers. Then I'm showing the same soldiers in battle, fighting with full emotion in the midst of combat with ugly faces ready to kill but again I've hidden this depth with the grain of film and almost adding an abstract quality since this is something that we don't see in history – I wanted it to be more of an abstract fantasy of the real thing.

Many of the uniforms are original but mostly were made by amazing costumers and historians – they helped me tremendously with research and unlimited access to very special things for the series. They are all 100% accurate and probably the most accurate for any large body of work on the subject. As far as the costumes go though something that I found very interesting about this war series and how people have dressed to kill, even dating back to caveman times is that there is immense symbolization in how one wants to be remembered. I saw it in the research for High Fashion Crime Scenes specifically in the suicide pictures almost universally, men would dress in their uniforms or best suits before killing themselves and women would wear their best dresses and do their hair and makeup. There's something very strange and dark about knowing the moment you may die and the way one would like to be perceived or remembered.

FP: What are you working on currently?

MP: Currently I'm working on a project that has to do with a glass and new printing process. I hope to have several pieces on display of this method by early 2010 and I'm also preparing my work to be shown internationally once the show at Ace Gallery ends in January '09.