Scan barcode
roach's review
challenging
informative
inspiring
mysterious
fast-paced
4.0
I am always immensely grateful to people who do impossible things on my behalf and bring back the picture. It means I don't have to do it, but at least I know what it looks like.
It's always exciting to get glimpses of places you'd usually not get to see. Be it the liminal spaces in remote areas or the places certain authorities don't want the layman to enter.
Taryn Simon's photography captures those places well and makes for an engaging collection of fascinating and sometimes transgressive peeks into exclusive spaces.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death and Gore
Moderate: Racism
pearseanderson's review
4.0
An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar was exactly what it promised it was going to be. I was thoroughly impressed by some of the shots, the locations, and the stories. I didn't love Simon's composition or editing though: it was very 2006, with too many underexposed sections and sometimes not enough framing for me to enjoy it. Overall, an 8/10, a book I can definitely reference when trying to write about Weird America.
mrjoe's review
5.0
Concept, execution, storytelling, and sequencing are all top notch. A landscape format or more square format book with larger images would have been preferred. Still, a minor quibble regarding a fascinating, important body of work.
More...