Taryn Simon

“A.6 Pussy Galore (Honor Blackman), 1964”, Birds of the West Indies I . 2013

Taryn Simon . images: © 2013|2014 Taryn Simon . + Gagosian Gallery

Conflating Bond the ornithologist with Bond the secret agent, Taryn Simon uses the title and format of the ornithologist’s taxonomy for her own two-part body of work, Birds of the West Indies (2013–14). The first element of the work is a photographic inventory of the women, innovative weaponry and luxury cars of Bond films made over the past fifty years. The resulting images comprise an index of interchangeable variables used in the production of fantasy... In the second element of the work, Simon casts herself as the ornithologist James Bond, identifying, photographing, and classifying all the birds that appear within the 24 films comprising the James Bond film franchise.
Gagosian Gallery

02 Taryn Simon . “A.31 Bibi Dahl (Lynn-Holly Johnson), 1981”, Birds of the West Indies I . 2013

03 Taryn Simon . “B.20 Golden Gun, 1974”, Birds of the West Indies I . 2013

04 Taryn Simon . “A.40 Stacey Sutton (Tanya Roberts), 1985”, Birds of the West Indies I . 2013

05 Taryn Simon . Switzerland (detail) . 2014