The Scene of the Crime

ARTIST
Sharon Heading

SENIOR OR ELDER
Alan Reeve

ARTFORM
Visual Arts

ABOUT THE ARTWORK
When Alan was a Police Officer, he was handed a camera by his boss and told that it was his job to do the crime scene photography. A daunting task in my mind.

The interesting thing is that his boss told him “You’re not just taking a picture; you have to tell a story.” That resonated with me, because Alan tells stories in the photography that he does now (which are not crime-scene-related), but it made me think of the magpies I battle in my yard, and how they are kind of like thieves. It made me think of how Alan might handle that battle or share that story.

For this particular project, I used pastel pencils. I do a lot of pastel work, but pencils were new for me, inspired by another artist in our community.

“The Scene of the Crime” is a depiction of magpies being essentially thieves. They are taking things from other places and incorporating them into the nest. In the nest, I have some “scene-of-the-crime” tape, you’ll see keys and visa cards — all marvellous things that they have collected from the community.
– Sharon Heading