This evening, Taryn Simon introduced A Living Man Declared Dead and Other Chapters at Tate Modern and talked about the ideas behind the portraits and text. Each bloodline required meticulous research and the most difficult to persuade were 2 feuding Brazilian families. The works are presented in a formal way with the text enclosed so that the artist retains control of all the elements. She loves making books and was very passionate about presenting the work in that form – 900 pages.

She was also nice enough to pose for me.