Contraband - Taryn Simon

The following photographs are part of a set of 1,075 photographs that were taken at both the US Customs and Border Protection Federal Inspection Site and the US Postal Service International Mail Facility at John F Kennedy International Airport, New York. From 16th November 2009 to 20th November 2009. Taryn Simon remained on site at JFL and continuously photographed items detained or seized from passengers and express mail entering the United States from abroad. http://tarynsimon.com/works_contraband.php

This is a fascinating  collection of images which conjour up a range of thoughts and emotions, from the viewer thinking why on earth would someone try to bring such items into another country to absolute revolt in cases such as the bird corpse, labeled as 'home decor' on a flight from Indonesia to Miami. It's also a very interesting view of people's lives and what they view as important and even precious and worth trying to smuggle into the country, of course there are also many cases of people simply not understanding the rules. I like the simplicity of the clinical white background, which, I guess, ensures a consistent cataloging of images, but I also feel this lends a sense of purity and respect for the item, which could initially be viewed as just rubbish but obviously have meant something to the owner. I like the equal, negative space around the subjects, something that seems to be quite consistent throughout the collection, this space, I feel, gives a sense of importance to the item.



This bag of beans, below, shows the amount of effort that has gone into the preparation for travel for the beans, with the ball being taped around several times. The split in the bag just revealing the contents for the viewer to peek in further to see the contents.