Witkin, who uses corpses as his medium, has also displayed "still
lifes" of a head on a plate as a vase containing a flower arrangement
and a dead baby surrounded by grapes. Another of Witkin's photographs,
"Le Baiser" ("The Kiss"), featured an old man's head that had been
cut into left and right halves. The two halves were then turned
together so they touched and photographed to appear as though they
were kissing.
Witkin's corpses were acquired—it's unclear exactly how—from the anatomy department of the University of New Mexico Medical School. Upon learning of his activities, University officials dissociated themselves from Witkin, who then looked south to Mexico to purchase the corpses—not exactly what NAFTA supporters had in mind.
[Ed.: Sculptor Anthony-Noel Kelly was arrested in London in April, 1997, for assembling a thoroughly derivative work involving 30 human body parts that may have been obtained illegally.]