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I've been working on the aftermath of a 1998 murder in western New York that has affected an unusually large number of people and tested the criminal justice system to its limits. Originally, I thought I would write a book, but as I worked my way through the materials made available to me, I realized that I had something quite special, quite powerful, and that "the story" cried out for multimedia web presentation.
The web projects I have made from this material intersect, so that the visitor moves through the pieces as if viewing the story through a prism. The facets appear in various contexts, interpretations, and images as the project grows. The resulting confusion is a quality consistent with the story itself. While there are apparent answers to the small questions (What did he look like? What did she say?), there appears to be no final answer to the larger questions raised by the circumstances of this crime. At least, not yet . . .
"Missing" is the most recent web installation I have constructed in the series. It began on paper when I created ten mini-posters for one of Kevin Thurston's collective artists' books. "Missing" makes use of court documents, graphic design (to the extent I am capable of it), photography, poetry, and text collages to construct a swirling, confusing story that allows visitors to explore the world of the crime at their own pace and in their own way. The project is actually incomplete, although I have been careful to design it so that the work stands on its own, whether there are 6panels, or 7, or 10.
Missing's predecessor, Aftershocks, also began in two dimensions, as a photo essay displayed at a large domestic violence conference. I expanded this piece for the web using fairly simple links to music, images, and text. Edward Picot reviewed "Aftershocks" on his Hyperliterature Exchange (UK) (http://hyperex.co.uk/reviewafteralice.php).
Both "Missing" and "Aftershocks" belong to the general category of creative nonfiction. In some ways, "Missing" is almost like a graphic novel – except that each page has links, layers, and/or other web-based devices.
My work on this project relies upon access I was given both to evidence and to people connected with this crime. I spent nearly three months, five days a week, in the county DA's office reviewing documents, tapes, etc., and I was allowed to copy what I saw -- so I have copies of receipts, lead sheets, arrest reports, status conference reports, and trial transcripts -- materials very unusual for an outsider to study. I have included many of these documents in the web installations, so that visitors can see more clearly how the criminal justice system works, what the investigations and exhibits look like. My research requests were backed by Freedom of Information Act petitions.
In addition, I have had contact with the victim's family since the first trial (you will see that there have been several 6 - 10 week trials) in2000 -- and I attended three trials connected to the murder as well as countless hearings.
Even when I complete "Missing" with the contemplated ten panels, I will only have begun to scratch the surface of what is available to me in this complicated case. At this point, I cannot imagine a book. But I can imagine building the web work piece-by-piece as I have in these two installations.
Web installations related to "Missing":
Aftershocks
Three Statements originally appeared at www.erasures.net in 2003.This site is no longer on line. The pieces, constructed with assistance from Millie Niss, are included in "Missing."
Art from Life
Martha L. Deed lives on the banks of the Erie Canal in North Tonawanda in a house whose crises and misfortunes cause poetry to be made. Recent publications include: 65 x 65 (small chapbook project, 2006), Intersections: a twenty day journal of the unexpected, and 15 (2006). Recent web art collaborations with Millie Niss appear in the Electronic Literature Collection, Iowa Review on the Web and elsewhere. Martha's website: www.sporkworld.org/Deed.