Behind the scenes of forensic medicine

Photographs by Patrik Budenz

A joint exhibition of the Kasseler Fotoforum and the Museum for Sepulchral Culture

In cooperation with the Kasseler Fotoforum e.V., the Museum for Sepulchral Culture presents photographs by Patrick Budenz on the occasion of this year's Kasseler Fotobookfestival.

In his photo reportage Post Mortem, the photographer accompanied dead bodies on their final stages – in cold rooms and storage rooms, at the section, at the undertaker, in the crematorium, in cemeteries, all the way to dissection and the collection of scientific organs and shows what is usually hidden in our modern society.
In the series From the Crime Scene to the Laboratory, he places forensic doctors at the Berlin Forensic Medical Institute at the center of his work for four years – with his camera he is at the scene of the crime, in the dissection room, in the laboratory and behind the desk. A borderline experience that became normality for him within four years, a normality that is also reflected in his black-and-white pictures.

The photographer Patrik Budenz succeeds in creating subtle images that tell of the incredibly normal. When asked whether he could cross borders in his work, Patrik Budenz answers: "The only border I have crossed for myself is my own fear of dealing with this subject." He does not want to shock the viewers, but rather achieves seriousness and dignity in dealing with death through the restrained presentation. In the tonality he uses pastel shades. Silent pictures were created, which touch us and bring the unfamiliar closer to us.