Taryn Simon

Taryn Simon is an American multidisciplinary artist whose photographs and installations address the production and circulation of knowledge, as well as the politics of representation. The present work forms part of the series Paperwork and the Will of Capital, containing 36 photographs and 12 sculptures that recreate floral arrangements drawn from archival photographs of treaty signings.

In the photograph, the staged bouquet is based on the centerpiece from the signing of the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation agreement, as revealed by the informative panel encased within the work. Layered flower heads in red, white, yellow, and green are placed against a neutral background, which, together with the archival display, lend the image an aura of objectivity. However, through her precise and clinical approach, Simon invites viewers to quietly, yet poignantly consider the symbolic weight of staged arrangements in the theatre of political diplomacy.