Melanie Pullen
Melanie Pullen (born 1975) is an American photographer who lives and works in Los Angeles, California.
Melanie Pullen
- Name
- Melanie Pullen
- Born
- 1975
- Birthplace
- New York, New York
- Field
- Photographer and artist
- Training
- Self-educated
- Nationality
- United States
- Occupation
- photographer
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
VALÉORINE documentary reading
Documentary summary
Melanie Pullen (born 1975) is an American photographer who lives and works in Los Angeles, California.
Admitted source layer · organised and presented by VALÉORINE
Note VALÉORINE
Melanie Pullen (born 1975) is a photographer, of American nationality. The photographer was born in New York City.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 27 September 2026
VALÉORINE
Reference Check
Propose documentary evidence for Melanie Pullen. A contribution is never written directly as fact: identity, source, rights and evidence gates still decide.
Sign in to contribute
World of VALÉORINE
Documentary connections
Only confirmed graph relationships appear here. Images are shown only when their identity and reuse rights both pass the documentary gate.
Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
wikidata · Q6811334 · wikipedia · Melanie Pullen
In this article
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Melanie Pullen • Birth Name — Melanie Pullen • Born — 1975 • Birthplace — New York, New York • Field — Photographer and artist • Training — Self-educated • Works — High Fashion Crime Scenes, 1995–2005; Violent Times, 2005–2009
Early life and early inspiration
Early life and early inspiration
Pullen was born in New York City and raised in the West Village. As a child her family consisted of writers, publishers, poets and painters. Her childhood home was frequented in the 1970s and 1980s by Andy Warhol, Allen Ginsberg, Emily Glen and Shel Silverstein. Pullen at the age of six would sometimes perform in Washington Square Park with Philippe Petit (Man on Wire) in his neighborhood shows. Kathleen Guilfoyle, Pullen's mother, is a painter and supported her family through painting murals in Manhattan's Greenwich Village and through peddling her works on the streets of New York. Pullen's father, Wayne Pullen, played professional pool. Shortly after acquiring her first camera in her teens she began shooting for several publications, magazines, catalogs, and record labels. She photographed rock bands.
Solo exhibitions
Solo exhibitions
• 2004: High Fashion Crime Scenes, Presented by Los Angeles County Museum of Art's 10th Annual Muse Art Walk, Los Angeles, CA • 2010: High Fashion Crime Scenes, Wignall Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles • 2011: Project Atrium: Melanie Pullen, Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville, Jacksonville, FL
Publications
High Fashion Crime Scenes. One Picture Book 78. Nazraeli Press.. With an introduction by Luke Crisell and essays by both Robert Enright and Colin Westerbech. Edition of 500 copies.
Photographic art
Pullen is inspired by geometry, and she loves lines and symmetry. She is most noted for High Fashion Crime Scenes which consists of over one-hundred photographs based on NYPD and LAPD crime scene files. Pullen's monograph High Fashion Crime Scenes received critical acclaim from Spin. To create High Fashion Crime Scenes (1995–2005), Pullen employed the services of up to 80 crew members and models per picture, with each image taking up to a month to create, and the series using over $13 million worth of clothing and accessories. Her photo shoots often resemble movie sets. High Fashion Crime Scenes in particular was inspired by cinema and photojournalism. During her research into crime-scene photography, Pullen became haunted by war imagery. Pullen states, "As I grew desensitized to domestic crime and violence, I became more sensitized to images of war. It was a strange phenomenon that I've explored and philosophized. I don't like violence, I have never been a dark person. I see stories and different layers to violent imagery. I'm curious about the response people have to violent images."
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Melanie Pullen (American, born 1975) (Getty Museum). The J. Paul Getty in Los Angeles.
- 2.Smith, Nancy MacDonell. The Talk; Fashion Victims. The New York Times. 29 August 2004.
- 3.Archived copy.
- 4.Melanie Pullen, Artist Bio http://www.melaniepullen.com
- 5.Newman, Cheryl. This Month At One Picture Books. The Daily Telegraph. 9 September 2013. 0307-1235.
- 6.Spin Magazine, Aug 2006
- 7.The London Independent on Sunday, 13 March 2005,
- 8.KPCC, Pacific Drift 2006 http://www.natsnd.org/sound/pacificdrift/pacificdrift14
- 9.Whitecanvas.
- 10.Wignall Museum of Contemporary Art, 2010 http://www.chaffey.edu/wignall/current.shtml
- 11.Project Atrium Melanie Pullen. mocajacksonville.org.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 18 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Photography
11,392 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- Mel FinkelsteinPhotographer
- Melanie BonajoPhotographer
- Melanie ManchotPhotographer
- Melanie MartinezPhotographer
- Melanie SmithPhotographer
- Melinda BordelonPhotographer
- Melinda MollineauxPhotographer
- Melissa Ann PinneyPhotographer
Best supported in this field
For owners
Own a work by Melanie Pullen?
A specialist will read what you send and tell you what the house can establish, what it cannot, and whether the object is suited to sale. There is no charge and no obligation. The object stays with you throughout; nothing is shipped to us unless it is arranged in writing beforehand.