The forensic scientists depicted in popular TV shows CSI and NCIS often work in slick, technologically-decked out labs solving case after scintillating case. But for forensic sculptor Frank Bender, reconstructing the faces of decomposing bodies or skeletons is a much more hands-on, creative process done in his paint-stained, converted-butcher-shop-studio in South Philadelphia.
Frank Bender Image: Katherine Bagley
Through a career that's spanned 33 years, Bender has worked with the Philadelphia police department, the FBI, Scotland Yard, America's Most Wanted and the Mexican government to give faces to unidentified victims. Just don't ask him how many -- he's lost count. His methods are far from traditional -- the only scientific forensics data he uses are facial tissue thickness charts, but only as starting points, he said -- and have been widely criticized. But his methods, no matter how unusual, work.
The artist starts his reconstruction process by photographing and studying a skull to get a sense of the unidentified person. He then uses soft, nonhardening clay to mold a face directly on to the bone, shaping the jaw, nose, mouth, and eyes. Once he's satisfied, he paints on a synthetic rubber mold, waits until it dries, peels off the fresh face, and returns the skull to the coroner's office or police department. The mold is then filled with plaster, or a similar durable material, and Bender begins to instinctively personalize the features. Hair color and texture, eyebrow thickness, ear shape. He's taken a single eye glass lens found at a crime scene and hunted for frames that would fit it. Bender has even given his busts facial hair or skin blemishes.
His reconstructive artistry is a far cry from the digital facial mapping used in today's forensics. "Most reconstructives turn out looking like androids," said Ted Botha during a presentation at the Mutter Museum for his new book on Bender's experiences in Mexico, The Girl with the Crooked Nose. "But Frank's work gives these skulls life."
His busts have helped investigators track down serial killers such as John List, a New Jersey accountant who killed his mother, wife, and three children in 1971, and aided in the conviction of John Martini, a New Jersey mafia hit man who was linked to several Philadelphia murders.
"There are a lot of skeptics, especially on the scientific end," said Bender, 68, sitting at a small table among piles of art supplies, sculptures, dirty dishes, and news clippings in his studio. "A lot of [modern-day forensic sculptors] rely totally on the charts, whereas I go in another direction after I've used up what I can use from the scientific help. It is not like I discard it totally; it is just that after a while I have to venture off-road to the unknown."
Bender has no formal scientific training, not even a college degree -- a fact that prevents him from being eligible for membership in the American Academy of Forensic Sciences. Despite the development of newer and flashier forensic technology or techniques, Bender said he doesn't plan on incorporating them into his methods any time soon. He is a "recomposer of the decomposed in the classical sense," as his voicemail greeting says. Bender, who co-founded the Vidocq Society, a group of more than 150 forensic professionals and private citizens who work on cold case homicides, swears "harmony of form" guides his work, something he believes exists in every type of expression, including science.
But Bender's adherence to his unorthodox approach to forensic reconstruction has garnered several skeptics, and he's even been told his methods are "hocus pocus," he said, laughing and stroking his manicured white goatee. "But I've got a working formula, no matter how different it is... I think when you've done things successfully long enough people start to accept the fact that not everybody works like them."
While he devotes a lot of his time to forensics work -- "I always wanted my art to serve a purpose, not just hang on a gallery wall" -- Bender is also a successful fine art painter and sculptor. Some of his most notable public pieces include the African Burial Ground memorial in the Weiss Federal Building in New York City, a bust of Bob Marley for the African-American Wax Museum of Harlem and a holocaust memorial in Kingston, Ontario.
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