CONTRABAND - The Stuff Seized at Customs becomes an Art Show

A bird corpse, the active ingredient found in Botox, counterfeit clothes and accessories (including designer hand bags), heroin, jewelry, over-proof Jamaican rum, items made from endangered species, pharmaceuticals, Cuban cigars, animal parts, pirated DVDs, gold dust, potatoes, GBL (a date rape drug concealed as house cleaner), cow manure tooth powder, and illegal steroids.

All the images in the show, "Contraband," are of items seized from passengers or express mail entering the U.S. by photographer, Taryn Simon.

Bird Corpse - Prohibited Item

For five days in November 2009, Simon remained on site at John F. Kennedy International Airport, which processes more international passengers than any other airport in the United States. The exhaustive pace at which she photographed paralleled the twenty-four hour rhythm by which goods move across borders and time zones. CONTRABAND includes 1075 photographs of items detained or seized from passengers and express mail entering the U.S. from abroad.

The renowned photographer tells CNN she spent several months getting permission to do the project from airport authorities, before showing up with her air mattress and team.

"Myself and my team got very little sleep under the blinding fluorescent lights. It was torturous. I could barely stand on the last day," says Simon.

There are 1,075 photographs in the series, which will also be exhibited in New York and featured in a 500-page book due out soon.

The show is up at the Gagosian Gallery in Beverly Hills through Nov. 6 2010.

Gagosian Gallery - Beverly Hills
456 North Camden Drive
Beverly Hills, CA 90210
310-271-9400