Close to 10 000 bodies are waiting to be identified each year in South Africa's medico-legal laboratories, according to Dr Kathryn Smith (below), an interdisciplinary visual and forensic artist. Smith is the head of the visual arts department at Stellenbosch University.
According to a research by Stellenbosch University, SA's medico-legal laboratories have close to 10 000 unidentified bodies each year.
Dr Kathryn Smith's PhD focused on forensic visual identification processes.
It included reviewing around 1 000 unclaimed bodies in a Cape Town mortuary.
Read more here By Yoliswa Sobuwa
Dr Kathryn Smith is an interdisciplinary visual and forensic artist, and chair of the department of Visual Arts at Stellenbosch University where she also directs VIZ.Lab, a research space focusing on forensic facial imaging and art/science interactions. She is a founding member of the Western Cape Cold Case Consortium and visiting research fellow at Face Lab (Liverpool John Moores University , UK). She will presenting at our #3 Forensic DNA Sympoisum on this fascinating topic. Register today