Photography London Group

Coming up this week is a free exhibition of Taryn Simons work at Tate Modern!

Tate Modern premieres an important new body of work by the American artist Taryn Simon, who chronicles generational histories through an elaborate assembly of image and text. In each, the external forces of territory, power, circumstance or religion collide with the internal forces of psychological and physical inheritance. From feuding families in Brazil to victims of genocide in Bosnia, and human exhibitions in the United States to the living dead in India, Simon forms a collection that maps the relationships among chance, blood and other components of fate. Simon’s presentation explores the struggle to determine patterns embedded in the narratives she documents.

Profile of her major works

Her series The Innocents documents cases of wrongful conviction in the United States and investigates the role of photography in that process. Her series An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar documents a diverse range of subjects within the United States that are largely unknown to its citizens. Her most recent body of work Contraband includes 1075 photographs of items detained or seized from passengers and express mail entering the U.S. from abroad. Simon is also known for her photographs documenting international regions in turmoil.

The Innocents (2003)The Innocents documents the stories of individuals who served time in prison for violent crimes they did not commit.

Nonfiction (2006)Nonfiction was a series of portraits and documentary images made in Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Indonesia, Cuba, and the United States.

An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar (2007)For this project, artist Taryn Simon documented diverse subjects from the realms of science, government, medicine, entertainment, nature, security, and religion. Her subject matter, which ranges from radioactive capsules at a nuclear waste storage facility to a black bear in hibernation.

The publication features 70 colour plates and a foreword by Salman Rushdie. Ronald Dworkin contributed a commentary, while curators Elisabeth Sussman and Tina Kukielski of the Whitney Museum of American Art contributed an introduction. It was published by Steidl and exhibited at the Whitney Museum of American Art in 2006. As of late 2007 it was on view at the Museum für Moderne Kunst in Frankfurt, Germany. She discussed the project with photography historian Geoffrey Batchen for the 8th volume of Museo.

Taryn Simon Contraband Contraband (2010) Contraband consists of 1,075 photographs were taken at both the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Federal Inspection Site and the U.S. Postal Service International Mail Facility at John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York. From November 16, 2009 through November 20, 2009, Taryn Simon remained on site at JFK and continuously photographed items detained or seized from passengers and express mail entering the United States from abroad.