Documentary photography at the Jeu de Paume in Paris
- 9 years ago
The Jeu de Paume in Paris presents the first anthological exhibition in France of American photographer Taryn Simon’s work.
She uses both pictures and text to try to reach a deeper meaning of photography. Simon presents a series of reflections about the role of images in our society – power, control, the separation between institutions and the public are just some of the topics she explores.
In her first work, ‘The Innocents’ in 2003, she took a series of portraits of people wrongfully convicted, imprisoned and subsequently freed from death row. In their cases photography offered the criminal justice system a tool that transformed innocent citizens into criminals by erroneous eyewitness identification.
Taryn Simon is warning us: photography is ambivalent and therefore less faithful to reality than we think. But at the same time images have power, more power than words:
“I think I use photography and text to highlight the ever-changing space where knowledge is created. So I try
She uses both pictures and text to try to reach a deeper meaning of photography. Simon presents a series of reflections about the role of images in our society – power, control, the separation between institutions and the public are just some of the topics she explores.
In her first work, ‘The Innocents’ in 2003, she took a series of portraits of people wrongfully convicted, imprisoned and subsequently freed from death row. In their cases photography offered the criminal justice system a tool that transformed innocent citizens into criminals by erroneous eyewitness identification.
Taryn Simon is warning us: photography is ambivalent and therefore less faithful to reality than we think. But at the same time images have power, more power than words:
“I think I use photography and text to highlight the ever-changing space where knowledge is created. So I try