Taryn Simon: A Living Man Declared Dead and Other Chapters I-XVIII August 27, 2012

Taryn Simon's 'A Living Man Declared Dead and Other Chapters I-XVIII' is a project created over four years, from 2008 to 2011, in which the artist traveled the globe, chasing down stories that originated with one individual and photographing that person, when possible, and his or her descendants. The subjects Simon documents include victims of genocide in Bosnia, test rabbits infected with a lethal disease in Australia, the first woman to hijack an aircraft, and the living dead in India. Simon's project is divided into 18 chapters, nine of which will be presented at MoMA. Each chapter is comprised of three segments: one of a large portrait series depicting bloodline members (portrait panel); a second featuring text (annotation panel); and a third containing photographic evidence (footnote panel).