Almine Rech Gallery, Brussels
October 29, 2010 through December 18, 2010
20 Rue de l'Abbaye, Abdijstraat 1050 Brussels
+32 26 48 56 84

Contraband is a new commission by acclaimed photographer Taryn Simon and is the first exhibition of this new series of photographs. Taryn Simon’s photographs chronicle contradictory aspects of the American identity while exposing the veiled mechanisms of society. This latest work expands on her earlier series, An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar (2007), that explored the covert intersection between private and public.

For five days in November 2009, Simon remained on site at John F. Kennedy International Airport, which processes more international passengers than any other airport in the United States. The exhaustive pace at which she photographed paralleled the twenty-four hour rhythm by which goods move across borders and time zones. Contraband includes 1075 photographs of items detained or seized from passengers and express mail entering the U.S. from abroad.

Simon used a labor intensive, forensic photographic procedure to document a broad array of forbidden items including the active ingredient found in Botox, counterfeit clothes and accessories (including designer hand bags), heroin, jewelry, over-proof Jamaican rum, items made from endangered species, pharmaceuticals, Cuban cigars, animal parts, pirated DVDs, gold dust, pistols, onions, GBL (a date rape drug concealed as house cleaner), casher checkes, and illegal steroids.

Simon photographed each item against a neutral grey background, producing an “objective” scientific record devoid of context. Removed from the individual passenger’s belongings, each item loses its distinguishing personal associations and is transformed into an artifact of the larger global network. Contraband can also infer danger, and raises questions about what is officially considered to be a threat to authority and security in contemporary American society.