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

Taryn Simon - Um homem vivo declarado morto e outros capítulos

Steidl / Mack, 2011.

A Living Man Declared Dead and Other Chapters I – XVIII foi produzido ao longo de um período de quatro anos (2008–2011), durante o qual Simon viajou pelo mundo pesquisando e registrando linhagens e suas histórias correlatas. Em cada um dos dezoito ‘capítulos’ que compõem a obra, as forças externas de território, poder, circunstância ou religião colidem com as forças internas de herança psicológica e física. Os sujeitos documentados por Simon incluem famílias em conflito no Brasil, vítimas de genocídio na Bósnia, o sósia do filho de Saddam Hussein, Uday, e os vivos mortos na Índia. Sua coletânea é, ao mesmo tempo, coesa e arbitrária, mapeando as relações entre acaso, sangue e outros componentes do destino. Cada obra de 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.