Taryn Simon

The Stories behind Bloodlines:

http://www.ted.com/talks/taryn_simon_photographs_secret_sites.html

http://www.ted.com/talks/taryn_simon_the_stories_behind_the_bloodlines.html


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Contraband

Contraband is simultaneously an archive of desires and an archive of perceived threats. It  is a story of ambiguity

Contraband is simultaneously an archive of desires and an archive of perceived threats. It is a story of specific kind of ambiguity.

  

For contraband Taryn Simon photographed items detained and seized from passengers and from express mail entering the US from abroad. The photographs are taken at the US customs and Border Protection site at the JFK.

These images present a juxtaposition of the absurdity that is available for exploration and simultaneously a sense of a flattening of dreams / and desires and aspirations.  Below is an example of 4 entries in the archive.

Cow dung toothpaste, India (BSE, Foot and Mouth Disease) (9CFR.94.6) (prohibited)

Deer penis, Asian origin (9CFR.94) (prohibited)

USA American Visagra, Viagra, China (counterfeit)

Handbag, Louis Vuitton (disguised) (counterfeit)

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An American Index of the Hidden and Familiar 

This project was inspired by the event and the aftermath of 11 September 2011. Following that event the United States government and media were interested in finding the secret sites beyond it’s borders. Simon inspired by that sought to seek what was hidden and placed beyond the American consciousness but were within the borders or the united states. She found these sites within the domain of science, government, entertainment, medicine, nature, security and religion. She then set out to document them. She documented 17 sites in total, below are examples of 3 sites.

White Tiger (Kenny), Selective Inbreeding, Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge and Foundation, Eureka Springs, Arkansas In the United States, all living white tigers are the result of selective inbreeding to artificially create the genetic conditions that lead to white fur, ice-blue eyes and a pink nose. Kenny was born to a breeder in Bentonville, Arkansas on February 3, 1999. As a result of inbreeding, Kenny is mentally retarded and has significant physical limitations. Due to his deep-set nose, he has difficulty breathing and closing his jaw, his teeth are severely malformed and he limps from abnormal bone structure in his forearms. The three other tigers in Kenny's litter are not considered to be quality white tigers as they are yellow-coated, cross-eyed, and knock-kneed

Playboy, Braille Edition Playboy Enterprises, Inc. New York, New York

The National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS), a division of the U.S. Library of Congress, provides a free national library program of Braille and recorded materials for blind and physically handicapped persons. Magazines included in the NLS's programs are selected on the basis of demonstrated reader interest. This includes the publishing and distribution of a Braille edition of Playboy.

Nuclear Waste Encapsulation and Storage Facility, Cherenkov Radiation, Hanford Site, U.S. Department of Energy, Southeastern Washington State Submerged in a pool of water at Hanford Site are 1,936 stainless-steel nuclear-waste capsules containing cesium and strontium. Combined, they contain over 120 million curies of radioactivity. It is estimated to be the most curies under one roof in the United States. The blue glow is created by the Cherenkov Effect which describes the electromagnetic radiation emitted when a charged particle, giving off energy, moves faster than light through a transparent medium. The temperatures of the capsules are as high as 330 degrees Fahrenheit. The pool of water serves as a shield against radiation; a human standing one foot from an unshielded capsule would receive a lethal dose of radiation in less than 10 seconds. Hanford is among the most contaminated sites in the United States