Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Unearthed forensic snaps reveal a dark, moody, violent side of Sydney in the ... - The Daily Telegraph



Sydney's dark, moody past in ...


Suburban Noir ... car crash investigation, North Sydney, 1958. Picture: Justice and Police Museum, Historic Houses Trust of NSW Source: Supplied




A DARK, moody and often violent side of Sydney's past has been revealed with more than 200 snaps recently uncovered in the Justice and Police Museum's forensic photography archive.



The images form a new show titled Suburban Noir, curated by Peter Doyle, following on from the groundbreaking City of Shadows exhibition - a powerful showcase of crime scene photography painting a portrait of 1950s and 60s Sydney far removed from the usual montage of shiny cars, motor mowers and happy families.



Suburban Noir ... Police investigation, East Botany, 1964. Picture: Justice and Police Museum, Historic Houses Trust of NSW


Suburban Noir ... Police investigation, East Botany, 1964. Picture: Justice and Police Museum, Historic Houses Trust of NSW Source: Supplied



Suburban Noir captures the spaces left behind: a moody catalogue of vacant lots, empty roads, desolate interiors and the everyday fragments of life in these hard-bitten slices of Sydney.



Murder scene, possibly Hume Highway, Carramar, 10 March 1964. Picture: From the collection of Brian K Doyle, NSW police detec...


Murder scene, possibly Hume Highway, Carramar, 10 March 1964. Picture: From the collection of Brian K Doyle, NSW police detective, and Peter Doyle's uncle. Source: Supplied



"Fifty to sixty years ago, no one, except for cops, photographed and recorded Sydney's streets and suburbs quite like this," says Doyle.


"Detective photographers turned a sceptical and suspicious eye to physical reality, just as artists do."



Stolen goods investigation, Canley Vale, 1964. Picture: Justice and Police Museum, Historic Houses Trust of NSW


Stolen goods investigation, Canley Vale, 1964. Picture: Justice and Police Museum, Historic Houses Trust of NSW Source: Supplied



Not surprisingly, Suburban Noir breaks with the tradition of presenting Sydney as a visual splendour, finding instead a moodier, less glitzy, more reserved and more uncertain Sydney.

Police investigation, Bankstown, 1964. Picture: Justice and Police Museum, Historic Houses Trust of NSW


Police investigation, Bankstown, 1964. Picture: Justice and Police Museum, Historic Houses Trust of NSW Source: Supplied



The exhibition presents the more than 200 crime scene photographs through a gripping filmic narrative.



Car crash investigation, Mount Pritchard, 1964. Picture: Justice and Police Museum, Historic Houses Trust of NSW


Car crash investigation, Mount Pritchard, 1964. Picture: Justice and Police Museum, Historic Houses Trust of NSW Source: Supplied



Original artworks from 15 artists build on the mood of the film, with some artists drawing inspiration from specific photographs to create works of art that reflect a different way of seeing everyday suburbia.

Break, enter and steal investigation, Sydney, 1964. Picture: Justice and Police Museum, Historic Houses Trust of NSW


Break, enter and steal investigation, Sydney, 1964. Picture: Justice and Police Museum, Historic Houses Trust of NSW Source: Supplied



The result is a hauntingly beautiful multimedia experience that hints at the crime and dysfunction that lies just beneath the most mundane of surfaces.

Car crash investigation, Paddington, 1964. Picture: Justice and Police Museum, Historic Houses Trust of NSW


Car crash investigation, Paddington, 1964. Picture: Justice and Police Museum, Historic Houses Trust of NSW Source: Supplied



Featured artists include Rhett Brewer, Peter O'Doherty, Anne Wallace, Ken Searle, Charles Cooper, Reg Mombassa (Chris O'Doherty), Dallas Bray, Bruce Latimer, Vanessa Berry, Frank Littler, Susannah Thorne, Theresa Darmody, Di Holdsworth, Michael Lewy, Peter Doyle.

Police investigation, Dawes Point, 1956. Picture: Justice and Police Museum, Historic Houses Trust of NSW


Police investigation, Dawes Point, 1956. Picture: Justice and Police Museum, Historic Houses Trust of NSW Source: Supplied



Suburban Noir is on at the Museum of Sydney until April 6 next year.


Admission: $10/$5. Family $20,



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