Doll Studies: Forensics

Doll Studies: Forensics by Guess, Carol. Paperback edition. ISBN: 9781936873166.

Doll Studies: Forensics is a prose poetry collection based on artwork created by Frances Glessner Lee during the 1940’ s. Lee constructed a series of dollhouse dioramas titled “ The Nutshell Studies Of Unexplained Death.” Each diorama depicts a crime scene, littered with clues that may be used to solve the crime. Lee eventually began giving seminars in forensic medicine, and is sometimes referred to as the mother of modern forensic science. “ The Nutshells” are housed in Baltimore, and were rarely examined until photographer Corinne May Botz began years of research into their creation. Carol Guess developed her prose poems in response to Botz’ s photographs, giving voice and music to the dioramas and their dead.