Birds of the West Indies by Taryn Simon. First edition (2013). First impression. Medium format hardback in fine condition. No internal markings. The book is as new and unread. The jacket has some minor scuffing. Dust jacket in removable protective sleeve. Please see pictures. PayPal accepted, any questions please get in touch.

About Birds of the West Indies

Using 007 as a case study, Taryn Simon considers the formulation of fantasy. In 1936, an American ornithologist named James Bond published the definitive taxonomy Birds of the West Indies. After that, Ian Fleming, an active bird-watcher living in Jamaica, appropriated the name for his novel’s lead character. He found it “flat and colourless”. In other words, a fitting choice for a character intended to be “anonymous. . . a blunt instrument in the hands of the government.”

So, in a meticulous and comprehensive dissection of the Bond films, artist Taryn Simon inventoried women, weapons and vehicles in Bond. Above all, the contents of these categories function as essential accessories to the narrative’s myth of the seductive, powerful, and invincible western male. In Birds of the West Indies, Simon presents a visual database of interchangeable variables used in the production of fantasy. Through which she examines the economic and emotional value generated by their repetition.