Taryn Simon is the hottest property in art photography, with her work sought after by major museums worldwide. On the eve of her latest show, at London's Tate Modern, she talks about her images and the painstaking creative processes involved
by Sean O'Hagan
In person, Taryn Simon seems like an unlikely contender for the title of most important photographer of her generation. Dressed in brown woolly tights and a matching check dress that looks thrift shop but is probably designer-Amish, she appears to have stepped out of a Sofia Coppola adaptation of an Edith Wharton novel. She is charming and personable but becomes palpably nervous when talking about her work, which is characterised by its complexity and ambition. "I do seem to try to make things harder and harder for myself," she says, laughing. "In some perverse way, obstacles interest me and I'm drawn to projects that end up being incredibly laborious."...[continued]
