“I’m terrified of heights and flying,” says photographer Melanie Pullen. However, she does enjoy flying small planes. In fact, she is working on her pilot’s license. “I don’t mind flying a weird little plane that is falling apart, but a large commercial jet, no way, I get so scared.” Pullen’s personality is certainly self-contradictory, and she also stands as an interesting counter-point to her photographs. At first it can be somewhat surprising to see the light-hearted and affable blond next to her extremely violent and dramatic work. However, the very reason her work is so poignant is because the dichotomies of her character are manifested in the photographs. Pullen has a remarkable ability to find beauty, or even humor, in the most horrifying, or traumatic of images. “Humor in my work is definitely important. The reality of a serious situation has humor in it. For example, if there is a movie without something you can smile or laugh at the movie is horrible.” Her latest series, Violent Times, is showing at Ace Gallery in Los Angeles through December 2008. Even the title, Violent Times, is a dichotomy. “I wanted the title to be almost a humorous play on war. At the same time glamorous, and then the reality of it.”

In her first critically acclaimed series, High Fashion Crime Scenes (2005), Pullen recreated images taken directly from actual crime scene photographs. The created reality of the pieces stands in strong opposition to real crime scene or war photographs where the violence usually suspends aesthetic appreciation. When viewing her work the spectator is keenly aware of how beautifully the violence is presented, the dead woman in the box’s red lips, for example. Despite the disconcerting ease with which a viewer is able to objectify the violence, the paradoxical co-presence of violence and beauty within a photograph creates a challenging, and enjoyable viewing experience.

Despite the violent nature of her work Pullen isn’t fixated with violence or the macabre. “I don’t like violence, I have never been a dark person.” What draws her to trauma photography is the potential for an image to create a narrative. “I see stories, writing stories, and different layers to violent imagery, and the response people have to violent images.” In order to create her images, where such a strong invitation to the narrative imagination is present, a lot of time is put into the development of the costumes. In Pullen’s series Violent Times (2008), the stories arise from the costume details. “The stories I have are about the outfits. They are driven by the costume.” The function of the costume details is reminiscent of photographic theorist Roland Barthes’ punctum. The punctum can be defined as a small detail that unexplainably captures the imagination of the viewer, and establishes in their mind a narrative story beyond the confines of the photograph. For example, if a soldier has a pocket-watch in his hand the viewer will create a narrative about the object. They might think that the watch was a gift from a family member, or that there is a picture of a sweetheart inside. To achieve this effect, “the process of piecing the outfits together was done from the bottom up. It took weeks and weeks. The attention to detail is very important. Perfect red, or perfect blue.” The results of such a process are complicated and striking images. The punctum is spectator dependent, and there are a multiplicity of responses. However, the viewer reaction to Pullen’s photographs are unanimous in one aspect; because of the small-unexplained details the viewers are left wanting questions answered.

It is interesting to note that although there is strong theoretical connotation to her work, alongside masterful lighting and color theory, Pullen has never gone to school for photography, or taken a single lesson. She has learned her craft through trial and error, a process that has proved greatly beneficial to her work. “I improvise all the time. You need to unlearn everything. Being willing to waste stuff. The best stuff comes out of mistakes.” In order to fully benefit from mistakes it is necessary to, “mess around with settings, do weird things.” Despite her love of “accidents”, she is in fact a perfectionist “to the point of driving [herself] insane.” Pullen is inspired by geometry, and she loves lines and symmetry. “I am inspired by long hallways. “Things have to be in perspective, and all things have to line up. All very measured.”

Pullen is currently working on an innovative project. “I am using this amazing lead free glass, and very large 8’ circular pieces.” She is developing a printing process where her photographs are printed onto the surface of the glass. “I apply this chemical through silk screens that eats through, and goes into the glass and sticks to it.” Pullen had to spend time experimenting with different chemicals to make it work. “The concept came about through different shows, and seeing people look at themselves in the reflections of the work, and being interested in the layers of that. And then I wondered how do I take a material and make it more reflective. Something that people will look at and see themselves in.” Pullen’s new project will make its viewers a part of the photograph. An inclusion that moves photography from a medium that captures a past event, to a medium that can depict the past and include the present simultaneously.