For five days, conceptual photographer Taryn Simon lived at JFK Airport in New York and documented an exhaustive amount of prohibited, illegal, dangerous, and strange items that were confiscated from passengers and express mailing entering the United States. From piles of Pakistani steroids to gallons of Polish date rape drugs to unidentified animal corpses, Simon tirelessly snapped over 1,000 photos in her makeshift studio at Terminal 4. This emporium of imagery was published in her book Contraband. Over time, patterns of desire emerge. While the basic illicit essentials like Louis Vuitton and cheap Chinese Viagra knockoffs are always in high demand, it’s the truly exotic things that pique our interest — salted slab of pork fat from Ukraine, anyone? Mmm? Browse through our picks from the illegal loot in the gallery.
Image credit: Taryn Simon. Bird corpse, labeled as home décor, Indonesia to Miami, Florida (prohibited).
Comments (21)
“Salted slab of pork from Ukraine” is actually called “salo” (sah-low with emphasis on the first syllable) and is a traditional food in Ukraine or South Russia. Pretty good with vodka.
Most of these aren’t very bizarre.
there is some weird stuff in there
you can’t bring in hot peppers?! dang.
Is the TSA trained in knowing which nesting dolls are counterfeit and which ones are “100% genuine”? WTF?
how am I supposed to get my deer penis now!? sigh.
@slav Yeah, I’m familiar, comrade, but I wasn’t going to amend the photographer’s caption. Lay off on the chilled vodka though — salo can curdle in a cold stomach and kill. True story.
@Holden Nesting dolls are nesting dolls, it’s the janky Disney trademark infringement that’s the non “genuine” part.
I agree with Jacques. Not very bizarre.
Yeah, because people travel with dear penises everyday.
Deer penis? Is it an aphrodisiac?
So you can’t *own* counterfeit goods? Or you merely can’t bring them in the country with the intention of selling them on? I doubt Disney even makes nesting dolls does it? So what are these counterfeit of? Assuming then that it is just the unlicensed imagery that’s the problem, if I paint a picture of Snow White on my bedroom wall or tattoo her image on my body, are customs and excise going to come a-knocking?
Heroin(illegal)- no shit.
That animal looks similar to a sloth…
My mom got salo confiscated. It was a gift from a friend in Ukraine to her family in the US. You can’t wrap it in plastic, only paper, so a dog sniffed it out.
[...] Flavorwire is hosting another great series of photos from the photographer Taryn Simon, who recently spent almost a week at New York‘s JFK airport capturing images of contraband confiscated by the border security. [...]
[...] Flavorwire is hosting another great series of photos from the photographer Taryn Simon, who recently spent almost a week at New York‘s JFK airport capturing images of contraband confiscated by the border security. [...]
[...] Flavorwire is hosting another great series of photos from the photographer Taryn Simon, who recently spent almost a week at New York‘s JFK airport capturing images of contraband confiscated by the border security. [...]
Thank god the people who wanted this stuff are already in the US…
[...] were first impressed by Taryn Simon’s work when we uncovered these photos she shot of bizarre contraband items found at JFK Airport in New York City. The conceptual [...]
“Unidentified mammal”? Seriously, I want to know what that is.
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