A crime is considered to be any act or omission which is prohibited by criminal law. Every state sets out a limited series of (acts) crimes which are prohibited and punishes the commissions of these acts by a fine, imprisonment, removal from office, death, or some other form of punishment. So, one must ask, is a crime only a crime if it acts in violation of the penal laws of a state? Should a person be considered “decent” and “upstanding” solely because he or she has never committed a criminal offense? What about all the injurious incidents that never fall under or judicial system’s radar?

For the purposes of answering these questions and exposing the inadequacy of our present judicial system, I have gone about redefining the word criminal to encompass any act of wrong-doing. To do so, I have employed the most simplistic means of documenting criminal activity, composite drawing. Oddly enough, though forensic criminal artists create composite drawings, the drawings themselves are not considered art. I’ve attempted to make composite drawing an art by assigning a new purpose to composite drawing through assuming the profession of a forensic criminal artist. I have created a series of composite drawings specifically designed for those minor, but negative occurrences or happenings in one’s life that are easy to shrug off, perhaps comical in nature, but often hard disremember. I went about conducting interviews with a number of witnesses before deciding upon six major crimes to investigate. During the interviews, I requested the witness to recount a recent negative moment in their lives that they could attribute to a criminal. These moments ranged from something as seemingly trivial as a criminal cutting the witness in line at the grocery store check-out, to a criminal ruthlessly insulting the witness. I then asked each witness a series of questions relating to the facial characteristics of the criminals such as: gender, hairstyle, skin color, distinguishing features, ethnicity etc. I then created my composite drawings according to their descriptions. Supporting the composite drawings are sculptural representations of the actual crimes. Also, I’ve created a video reenacting the crimes. so that the viewer (in theory) becomes yet another witness to the crimes.

The composite drawings, sculptures, and video then work to bring forth these negativities, thereby altering the manner in which one views criminal activity, to draw out the criminal, and in so doing, coerce the viewer to apprehend the criminal within him or herself.