Taryn Simon - A living man declared dead and other chapters - 2011

Taryn Simon - En levende mann erklært død og andre kapitler

Steidl / Mack, 2011.

A Living Man Declared Dead and Other Chapters I – XVIII ble produsert over en fireårsperiode (2008–2011), hvor Simon reiste verden rundt for å forske på og registrere blodslinjer og deres tilhørende historier. I hvert av de atten «kapitlene» som utgjør verket kolliderer ytre krefter som territorium, makt, omstendigheter eller religion med de indre kreftene av psykologisk og fysisk arv. Følgen dokumentert av Simon inkluderer feidefamilier i Brasil, ofre for folkemord i Bosnia, kroppsdobbeltet til Saddams hustrus sønn Uday, og de levende døde i India. Hennes samling er samtidig sammenhengende og vilkårlig, og kartlegger forholdet mellom tilfeldighet, blod og andre komponenter av skjebne. Hvert verk i A Living Man Declared Dead comprises three segments. On the left of each chapter are one or more large portrait panels systematically ordering a number of individuals directly related by blood. The sequence of portraits is structured to include the living ascendants and descendants of a single individual. The portraits are followed by a central text panel in which the artist constructs narratives and collects details. On the right are Simon’s ‘footnote images’ representing fragmented pieces of the established narratives and providing photographic evidence. The empty portraits represent living members of a bloodline who could not be photographed. The reasons for these absences are included in the text panels and include imprisonment, military service, dengue fever and women not granted permission to be photographed for religious and social reasons. Simon’s presentation explores the struggle to determine codes and patterns embedded in the narratives she documents, making them recognizable as variations (versions, renderings, adaptations) of archetypal episodes from the present, past, and future. In contrast to the methodical ordering of a bloodline, the central elements of the stories – violence, resilience, corruption, and survival – disorient the highly structured appearance of the work. A Living Man Declared Dead and Other Chapters I – XVIII highlights the space between text and image, absence and presence, and order and disorder.