Courtesy of past guest, Karolina Waclawiak, who posted the link on Facebook, don’t miss a wonderful tour of mysterious glass-plate mug shots from 1920s Australia, over on NPR.
NSW Police Forensic Photography Archive, Justice & Police Museum/Historic Houses Trust of NSW
Many secrets reside in each and every one.
Some great mugshots sent along by folks, after yesterday’s post, beginning with the comely Patty….
Thanks to Nathan, Lesley and Paul.
Like many crime fiction aficionados I know, I am a lover of old mug shots, and of tabloid photos of the those caught in the act of reckless living, tumult, sorrow and rage. Some are cracking, rowdy–promising behind-the-scenes bad behavior of the lighter, livelier kind. Some are hopelessly sad. Many just let you fill everything in yourself:
(this from a great exhibit a few years ago here).
Mostly, I prefer these images to be at least a few decades old, or even older. But there have been a few lately (one a mug shot, one apparently a cell phone shot of bad behavior) that really struck me. The first one is of a young woman who was, recently, the star of an E! reality show. A probation violator, she was recently caught with a fake driver’s license and black tar heroin. Her expression, the angle, everything about it is striking, strange, sad:
(Note also the t-shirt; so many mug or crime scene photos have organic irony).
And the other one (follow this link) is Lindsay Lohan. With its grainy, nearly sepia quality, it could almost be a century old, or older. There’s something utterly contemporary (cell phone image, party dress) and yet ancient. With Ms. Lohan looking for all the world like a doomed vampiress.
The Abbott Gran Medicine Show 