© 2007 Taryn Simon - courtesy Gagosian Gallery / Steidl
For this project, Taryn Simon assumes the dual role of shrewd informant and
collector of curiosities, compiling an inventory of what lies hidden and
out-of-view within the borders of the United States. She examines a culture
through careful documentation of diverse subjects from the realms of
science, government, medicine, entertainment, nature, security, and
religion. Transforming the unknown into a seductive and intelligible form,
Simon confronts the divide between those with and without the privilege of
access.
Simon makes use of the annotated-photograph's capacity to engage and inform
the public. Through text and image, the work underscores the complicated
relationship between a photograph and its context. The visual is processed
aesthetically and then re-defined by its text.
Her sometimes ethereal, sometimes foreboding compositions, shot with a
large-format view camera over a four year period, vary as much as her
subject matter, which ranges from radioactive capsules at a nuclear waste
storage facility to a black bear in hibernation. In examining that which is
integral to America's foundation, mythology and daily functioning, Simon
creates a collection of works that reflect and reveal a national
identity.
In this exhibition the carefully designed book of the project, published by
Steidl, is deconstructed in a spatial presentation of the complete series.