events

 
 

I regularly deliver in-person and online lectures for public organisations in London, Paris and New York, including Morbid Anatomy, London Month of the Dead, and the Viktor Wynd Museum. Recent topics have included:

  • Exploring ways in which the ‘crime scene aesthetic’ has influenced fashion, film, music and photography

  • An overview of the Paris morgue's dark and deadly history, featuring true crime, anatomical dissection and international tabloid fame

  • How morgues have acted as a creative muse for artists, both historically and into the present day

Dates for upcoming events will be published below ahead of time. If you would like to book me for a public lecture or event, please get in touch!

Upcoming events (UK):

SHOT DEAD: Crime Scene Photography in Art and Culture

7pm on October 22nd, 2024 at The Century Club, London

Originally introduced in late nineteenth-century Paris, crime scene photography was designed to capture an accurate, objective overview of a serious crime scene. This budding technology was then adopted by police departments around the world, quickly becoming an essential tool for criminal investigation.

But within a few decades, the rise of tabloid journalism and the work of photojournalists such as the American photographer Weegee helped transform what was once a private forensic document - and visual record - into a popular cultural style. This “crime scene aesthetic” can now be found everywhere from museum exhibitions and Hollywood films to fashion campaigns, music videos, contemporary photography and even reality TV.

In this talk, Catriona Byers will delve into key moments in the development of the crime scene aesthetic, tracing the shift from crime-solving tool to commercially valuable artistic staple that stretches from Taxi Driver and Twin Peaks to Taylor Swift and America’s Next Top Model. Why do these photos continue to capture the public imagination? And what does this ultimately say about our enduring relationship to glamour, sex, death, true crime, and violent aesthetic imagery?

Tickets available here

Previous events:

  • The Paris Morgue: A Dark and Deadly History - 7pm GMT February 5th 2024 for the Last Tuesday Society at the Viktor Wynd Museum, London (get tickets here SOLD OUT)

  • Drop Dead Gorgeous: Fashion, Photography, and the Crime Scene Aesthetic - 6pm EST on Monday May 1st 2023 for Morbid Anatomy, Online/New York (get tickets here)

  • The Paris Morgue: Dark Tourism, True Crime and Morbid Medicine - 7pm GMT March 13th 2023 for the Last Tuesday Society at the Viktor Wynd Museum, London (get tickets here SOLD OUT)

  • The Morgue As A Muse: Art, Aesthetics and the Anonymous Dead - 7pm EST on Monday January 30th 2023 for Morbid Anatomy, Online/New York (get tickets here)

  • The Paris Morgue: Dark Tourism, True Crime and Morbid Medicine - 1.30pm GMT on Sunday October 23rd, 2022 for London Month of the Dead at Brompton Cemetery Chapel, London (get tickets here)

  • The Paris Morgue as a Muse: Art and Inspiration Among the Anonymous Dead - 10.30am CEST on Saturday October 15th, 2022 for Morbid Anatomy at the Musee Fragonard d’Alfort, Paris (get tickets here SOLD OUT)