In An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar, Taryn Simon documents spaces that are integral to America's foundation, mythology and daily functioning, but remain inaccessible or unknown to a public audience. She has photographed rarely seen sites from domains including: science, government, medicine, entertainment, nature security and religion. This index examines subjects that, while provocative or controversial, are currently legal. The work responds to a desire to discover unknown territories, to see everything. Simon makes use of the annotated-photograph's capacity to engage and inform the public. Transforming that which is off-limits or under-the-radar into a visible and intelligible form, she confronts the divide between the privileged access of the few and the limited access of the public. Photographed with a large format view camera (except when prohibited), Simon's 70 color plates form a seductive collection that reflects and reveals a national identity. In addition to this monograph, there is also an exhibition of Simon's work opening at the Whitney Museum of American Art in March 2007.
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From LIFE Magazine:
Few Signs are as bewitching as a posted warning to KEEP OUT. Photographer Taryn Simon's book, An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar, sneaks viewers past the stone-faced security guards and inside a Mission: Impossible-worthy list of 60 locations--from CIA headquarters to an avian-quarantine facility to a fully armed nuclear sub. Doors open to rooms holding secrets we never expected to see: contraband seized by U.S. customs agents; a pod holding cryonically preserved bodies; a federally funded crop of marijuana plants.
Few Signs are as bewitching as a posted warning to KEEP OUT. Photographer Taryn Simon's book, An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar, sneaks viewers past the stone-faced security guards and inside a Mission: Impossible-worthy list of 60 locations--from CIA headquarters to an avian-quarantine facility to a fully armed nuclear sub. Doors open to rooms holding secrets we never expected to see: contraband seized by U.S. customs agents; a pod holding cryonically preserved bodies; a federally funded crop of marijuana plants.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Like having an art museum all to yourself,
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar (Hardcover)
I like the big white pages. To me, it feels like being in a gallery, without the background chatter and the one woman with too much perfume who talks too loud, you know who you are. All the white space lets you focus on just that photo, that moment. The detailed captions are a treat for the mind.
This isn't a book of snapshots. Each photo demands contemplation and admiration that she got consent to access this location. Except Disney, of course. Their letter of rejection and their reasoning at the end is droll, compared to what she was granted permission to capture. Several of these locations I knew of. Many I didn't. Some are upsetting, as they should be. Bravo!
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A little disappointed,
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This review is from: An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar (Hardcover)
I purchased this book following a visit to a superb exhibition containing many of the photos in the book. The concept, the photographs, and the accompanying text for each image, were absolutely enthralling in the exhibition. Photos in the exhibition were all quite large, and many were incredibly complex. We spent a long time examining each one. As you might expect, the photos in the book are not nearly as large (duh!), but also were not reproduced with the same clarity. Much of the detail is lost and some of the images seem very dark. I have to say I was a bit disappointed, as I had purchased two copies of the book as gifts for people who were unable to attend the exhibition; although I knew there would be a loss of quality in each reproduced image, I was not expecting the loss to be as great. It is a shame, because Taryn Simon's work is exceptional.
10 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Taryn Simon Is Artistically All Over The Map, But This Book Confirms Her Status As One Of Our Most Important Photographers,
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This review is from: An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar (Hardcover)
Having seen the small exhibition at the Whitney Museum devoted to this body of work (It's currently on view there until early June.), I strongly believe that this book confirms what many people - myself included - have thought of fellow Brunonian Taryn Simon's work ever since she made her spectacular debut with "The Innocents" a few years ago. "An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar" demonstrates that she has become one of our most important documentary photographers, stretching her artistic terrain to encompass much more than the fine environmental portraiture that she demonstrated so well in "The Innocents". Stylistically, Simon is indeed all over the map, but she still has made memorable color images which pay homage to work from the likes of Lewis Baltz, Richard Mishrach, Walker Evans and Richard Avedon to name but a few (I might add too that like most of these photographers, Simon works primarily with a large format camera, using availiable light only to photograph her subjects.). If there is a serious artistic criticism to be made of her latest body of work, then it's probably one related to her sequencing of images (It's a point that I've remembered vividly well from an intermediate photography course I had taken years before, which was taught by distinguished photographer Harold Jones, the founding director of both New York City's Light Gallery and the University of Arizona's Center for Creative Photography.) - though this may be more the fault of her editors than of Ms. Simon herself. If you're unfamiliar with Simon's memorable imagery, then "An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar" is a superb place to begin your artistic journey.
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