In April 2017, Taryn Simon conducted workshops with 9 teens from Free Arts NYC's Portfolio Mentorship, Creative Career Exploration, and Museum and Studio Visit Program. Participating teens created their own body of work inspired by Simon's The Picture Collection.
The first component of the project was a tour of Simon's studio. The teens learned about Simon’s inspirations, process, and details about The Picture Collection project. Collaboratively, and with guidance from Simon, the teens began their own Picture Collection project, drawing on their unique life experiences and influences.
Each student chose a term and began the process of selecting images to assemble their own visual library. The 18 terms chosen collectively were: Empowerment, Culture, Addiction, Mental disorder, Admiration, Expressions, Androgyny, Terms, Ignorance, Memes, Tranquility, Equality, Beauty, Confidence, Ownership, America, Balance, Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.
Later, Simon met with the students to view and discuss their work at The New York Public Library's Picture Collection Library. Billy Parrott, Associate Director of The New York Public Library, joined Simon and the teens to give a special historical overview of The Picture Collection
Participating Teen Artists:
Adonai, 15
Jade, 15
Iffatara, 19
Carla, 17
Jay, 14
Iqra, 17
Hira, 19
Raven, 17
Sandra, 18
Acknowledgments:
Director: Chiara Clemente
Director of Photography: Deering Regan
Sound: Turner Curran
Editor: Tanya Meillier
Taryn Simon Projects: Kerin Sulock
New York Public Library: Billy Parrot
Gagosian Gallery
