Art or evidence? The LAPD Arrives at DUMA

Two men slouched over plates of spaghetti, blood splattered in their dining booth. A glass cafZ windowfront cleanly pierced by two bullet holes. A ransom note that reads "Stick up don't move smile." Sound like scenes from a Hollywood mob movie?

If the Duke University Museum of Art's new exhibition had a different title, one might easily think so. But To Protect and To Serve: The L.A.P.D. Photo Archives offers us chilling images of real crimes in Los Angeles from the 1920s through the 1960s. One of DUMA's most provocative and fascinating exhibitions in recent memory, To Protect and To Serve blurs the lines between photographic data and art. It raises the question, "Is all photography art?"

We are lead to believe so by the 77 haunting black-and-white photographs displayed in the North Wing Gallery. Each one tells an intricate story about the duties of a police officer and the realities of crime in Los Angeles, or any city for that matter.

One of the most chilling images, labeled as "Morgue, Woman Lying on Autopsy Table," captures a pale, bare-chested woman lying on her side to face us, looking as if she is about to stand up. Searching for detail in the image, the viewer's eyes land upon the long T-shaped incision across her chest, where coroners had examined her dead organs. A more comical photograph on the other side of the gallery shows motorcycle officers waiting in line for donuts and coffee.

These photographs, along with the others displayed at the DUMA, were dug up from 47,500 square feet of cardboard crates stacked in the Los Angeles city clerk's office. Most of them have not been seen by anyone since they were used in courtrooms. Fototeka, the City of Los Angeles and the LAPD organized the exhibition.

The opening reception begins at 5:30pm tonight in the DUMA, with a lecture at 6pm. The exhibition will be on display until May 19.