I wish I could remember the smaller details of this story. Did I drive or take the bus? Was there an issue with security at the RCMP building where the interview was to take place? Did I have a plan in regards to this interview or was I just going to wing it?
I was working on a series of articles for my science reporting class about forensic anthropology and I was on my way to talk to Peter. (As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, I have no idea of how I found him or why I chose to write about forensic anthropology.)
By day Peter worked for the RCMP, by night he transformed into a pottery instructor. Peter was an older man, grey hair, a kind face, and he was genuinely easy to talk to. His specialty was facial identification. If unidentifiable human remains are found (with no identification, no teeth/dental records, no nothing), the skull was sent to him.
At this point, the face, devoid of soft tissue or hair, is rebuilt from the ground up. He recreates it by using various statistical information about tissue depth and nose length and forehead size etc. Here’s a description I found in the National Criminal Justice Service website:
“The statistical information has been compiled over a number of year by using people who have been killed in wars or car accidents. Rounded erasers are then cut, numbered, and glued on various areas of the skull to act as markers for identifying the tissue depth in a given area. Clay is layered from the lower marker to the higher marker, following the contour of the skull, the shape, and also the thickness of the tissue. The reconstruction of the eyes, nose, and lips requires special techniques for each feature. Eye and hair color can only be determined by using clues from the investigation.“
It is fascinating. We don’t really think about how much physical appearance can be dictated by geography. How exactly are Native Canadians different from people in Quebec? From people in Somalia? These are measurable differences.
Once he reconstructs the face, a photo is taken and is sent to missing persons. Computer programs are used to perform age progression for the identification of children who have been missing for years.
Anyway, Peter and I were chatting. I was sitting at a table, writing everything down in my notebook. Peter got up and walked over to a steel locker. It was exactly like the kind of locker that is used in schools to store student textbooks and coats. His back was to me. I watched as he took something from out of the locker. In one smooth and suddent movement he turned and placed it in front of me with a clunk. It was a human skull, completely unadulterated but for a long clear cylinder coming out the bottom. It was a stand. And there it stood.
This, he said, is a 16 year-old girl. She was found in a ditch.
I was a bit taken aback. I wasn’t much older than 16. And I’d never seen a skull. I must have asked him if it was real. It was.
He went on.
“She had an eating disorder,” he said.
“How do you know?”
“She was anemic. Feel up inside her eye socket.”
And so I did. There, up inside the place where her eyeball would have been, right behind the “eyebrow bone” was bumpy. It felt like I was running my finger along a piece of sandpaper.
I’m not sure if I’m correctly recalling the medical reasons for the unexpected texture, but as far as I can remember he said that this part of the skull gets depleted if the body is starved of iron.
What a sad, sad thing. I have no idea who that girl was, or if she was ever correctly identified. I do know that she was somebody’s daughter.
–
One of the materials he used for facial reconstruction was clay. When he wasn’t building faces he could be found in a pottery studio. He used a pottery wheel to make wonderful creations out of pliable lumps of earth – elegant bowls and teapots – and he taught others to do the same. I sat in on one of his classes. It got me thinking. I asked him, since he uses the same basic material (that is clay) for both his day job and for his evening job, can facial reconstruction be considered art?
He explained that it is only art if it is created with the intention of being art. Even though he uses artistic materials, the facial reconstructions are not art. The pottery is art, because it is intended to be such.
I asked him, so does that mean that anything can be art? Yes, he said. Even a pile of sweepings on the studio floor. If the floor is swept and it is meant it to be art, it is art.
I like that. It changed my understanding of art and helped define it in my mind.
–
I was – and still am – fascinated by people in their workplace. I love hearing stories relating to their work. Why do they do what they do? I am lucky to have the opportunity to meet a lot of interesting people in regards to the things I’m writing about now, but I would like to expand my experience a bit. How should I go about it? I don’t think a cold call would work (although I am considerably braver about it today!). Anyone know of any interesting places I can hang out for an hour or two?
Maybe I’ll ask my mailman to start. :)
p.s Remind me to tell you the story about the crematorium sometime.
