Rear Views, a Star-Forming Nebula, and the Department of Foreign Propaganda

Born in New York in 1975, Taryn Simon is at the forefront of contemporary photography. Published in close collaboration with the artist, this book is the first to draw together her diverse and complex range of projects. Simon's art is based around the equal use of photography, text, and graphic design. In the work represented in this book, she combines these elements in projects that range in focus and scope from a series of examinations of the United States legal system; to a four-year examination of politics, history, and individual agency on a global scale; to works based on obscure and little-known stories and archives addressing the nature of the production and circulation of knowledge. Along with the artwork, texts by a distinguished group of authors demonstrate Simon's role as a preeminent exponent of a practice that engages equally with the modern world and the politics of representation.