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South Africans visit Scottsdale for lesson in forensic art
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As a police inspector in South Africa for the past 18 years, Kenneth Mbonani has helped a lot of people.
With his talents in composite sketching, Mbonani has worked with witnesses on cases involving rape, armed robbery, murder, fraud, hijacking and kidnapping.
“But I think that we need to enhance what we’re doing,” he said.
So Mbonani and another police officer from South Africa, Edward Van der Westhuizen, came to Scottsdale to take classes at the Scottsdale Artists’ School from one of the world’s foremost experts in forensic art.
Karen T. Taylor worked as a forensic artist for more than 18 years at the Texas Department of Public Safety in Austin, helping identify criminals and victims in numerous cases.
Her artwork also has been featured on “America’s Most Wanted,” and a character on the crime drama “CSI” was based on her work.
Taylor has been teaching composite drawing at the Scottsdale Artists’ School for 21 years.
Van der Westhuizen said he found her name on her Web site and made the trek to learn from her.
He works in the anthropology division in the forensic science lab in Pretoria, South Africa, doing facial reconstruction on victims that cannot be identified.
The tactics for identification include fingerprinting the victims — mummified fingerprinting as he called it — drawing and sculpting figures based on the skeletal structure and DNA testing.
He and Mbonani use computer software to create sketches for their cases, but the technology has limitations.
“We still need artistic people,” Van der Westhuizen said. “The computers can only do so much. You need the personal touch.”
Taylor said the training for forensic art is hard to find. “People come from all over the world,” she said.
School marketing director Kathy Duley said the forensic art classes deviate a bit from the typical offerings at the school.
“It creates a little diversity at the school,” she said.
The classes often attract al types of law enforcement officers.
The school also offers classes in forensic sculpture, by internationally recognized expert Betty Pat. Gatliff.
Van der Westhuizen said that after being in his field for so long, he has begun to look at faces differently.
“You catch yourself walking down the street looking at people,” he said. “They think you’re staring.”
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