Image and Text

Taryn Simon’s ‘An American Index of the Hidden & Unfamiliar'

©Taryn Simon

©Taryn Simon

©Taryn Simon

©Taryn Simon



Helsinki_Art_Museum_Article_2012.pdf


"Simon admits she is not committed to showing things “just as they are”, allowing a certain
degree of artistic intervention to produce aesthetically alluring images. According to the
artist, the viewer should be seduced by the aesthetics of her images, including the beauty of
an object, person, or place she portrays. However, her photographs would be incomplete
without her lists, information, texts, and other material. Her artistic medium consists of
three equal elements: photography, texts, and graphic design. All play an equal role in the
communication of her subjects. Her text often functions as ’hardcore data’, as she describes
it, coupled with a purposeful abstraction and geometry in the images themselves."

Simon puts a lot of emphasis on the way people look at her "alluring images". Her 

images might express a certain feeling, for example, but after people read the text that's 

attached to the image, they realize that it is not what they were thinking the first time. So, 

for Simon's practice, using text is an important part of her work as text clarifies what the 

images could say wrong or other preconceptions people might have about her work. 

Also, Simon also argues the fact that the viewer can't engage in the photographs and text 

at the same time. She tries to create a tension so that the viewer reads the text and then 

comes back to the images because the viewers become uncertain of what they saw in the

image(s). It is quite strategic!!!