In An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar, Taryn Simon compiles an inventory of what lies hidden and out-of-view within the borders of the United States. She examines a culture through documentation of subjects from domains including: science, government, medicine, entertainment, nature, security, and religion. Confronting the divide between those with and without the privilege of access, Simon's collection reflects and reveals that which is integral to America's foundation, mythology and daily functioning.

Submerged in a pool of water at Hanford Site are 1,936 stainless-steel nuclear-waste capsules containing cesium and strontium. Combined, they contain over 120 million curies of radioactivity. It is estimated to be the most curies under one roof in the United States. The blue glow is created by the Cherenkov Effect which describes the electromagnetic radiation emitted when a charged particle, giving off energy, moves faster than light through a transparent medium. The temperatures of the capsules are as high as 330 degrees Fahrenheit. The pool of water serves as a shield against radiation; a human standing one foot from an unshielded capsule would receive a lethal dose of radiation in less than 10 seconds. Hanford is among the most contaminated sites in the United States.

Chromogenic print, 37-1/4 x 44-1/2 inches framed (94.6 x 113 cm), Edition of 7

© Taryn Simon

This cryopreservation unit holds the bodies of Rhea and Elaine Ettinger, the mother and first wife of cryonics pioneer, Robert Ettinger. Robert, author of The Prospect of Immortality and Man into Superman is still alive.

The Cryonics Institute offers cryostasis (freezing) services for individuals and pets upon death. Cryostasis is practiced with the hope that lives will ultimately be extended through future developments in science, technology, and medicine. When, and if, these developments occur, Institute members hope to awake to an extended life in good health, free from disease or the aging process. Cryostasis must begin immediately upon legal death. A person or pet is infused with ice-preventive substances and quickly cooled to a temperature where physical decay virtually stops. The Cryonics Institute charges $28,000 for cryostasis if it is planned well in advance of legal death and $35,000 on shorter notice.

Chromogenic print, 37-1/4 x 44-1/2 inches framed (94.6 x 113 cm), Edition of 7

© Taryn Simon

In the United States, all living white tigers are the result of selective inbreeding to artificially create the genetic conditions that lead to white fur, ice-blue eyes and a pink nose. Kenny was born to a breeder in Bentonville, Arkansas on February 3, 1999. As a result of inbreeding, Kenny is mentally retarded and has significant physical limitations. Due to his deep-set nose, he has difficulty breathing and closing his jaw, his teeth are severely malformed and he limps from abnormal bone structure in his forearms. The three other tigers in Kenny's litter are not considered to be quality white tigers as they are yellow-coated, cross-eyed, and knock-kneed.

Chromogenic print, 37-1/4 x 44-1/2 inches framed (94.6 x 113 cm), Edition of 7

© Taryn Simon

The National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS), a division of the U.S. Library of Congress, provides a free national library program of Braille and recorded materials for blind and physically handicapped persons. Magazines included in the NLS's programs are selected on the basis of demonstrated reader interest. This includes the publishing and distribution of a Braille edition of Playboy.

Approximately 10 million American adults read Playboy every month, with 3 million obtaining it through paid circulation. It has included articles by writers such as Norman Mailer, Vladimir Nabokov, Philip Roth, Joyce Carol Oates, and Kurt Vonnegut and conducted interviews with Salvador Dali, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Malcolm X.

Chromogenic print, 37-1/4 x 44-1/2 inches framed (94.6 x 113 cm), Edition of 7

© Taryn Simon

Director of Jury Consultation, David Klein, and Vice President of Jury Consulting, James Dobson, monitor and analyze mock trial proceedings and jury deliberations in order to assist their clients in developing effective trial strategies.

Mock juries are an integral part of litigation consulting, a little-known professional field with annual profits of approximately $3 billion. The estimated cost of a single jury simulation is $60,000. Jurors for simulations are jury-eligible individuals from the jurisdiction where the actual case will be tried. They are recruited to accurately reflect the socio-demographic backgrounds of that jurisdiction's population.

Chromogenic print, 37-1/4 x 44-1/2 inches framed (94.6 x 113 cm), Edition of 7

© Taryn Simon

The patient in this photograph is 21 years old. She is of Palestinian descent and living in the United States. In order to adhere to cultural and familial expectations regarding her virginity and marriage, she underwent hymenoplasty. Without it she feared she would be rejected by her future husband and bring shame upon her family. She flew in secret to Florida where the operation was performed by Dr. Bernard Stern, a plastic surgeon she located on the internet.

The purpose of hymenoplasty is to reconstruct a ruptured hymen, the membrane which partially covers the opening of the vagina. It is an outpatient procedure which takes approximately 30 minutes and can be done under local or intravenous anesthesia. Dr. Stern charges $3,500 for hymenoplasty. He also performs labiaplasty and vaginal rejuvenation.

Chromogenic print, 37-1/4 x 44-1/2 inches framed (94.6 x 113 cm), Edition of 7

© Taryn Simon

The Fine Arts Commission of the CIA is responsible for acquiring art to display in the Agency's buildings. Among the Commission's curated art are two pieces (pictured) by Thomas Downing, on long-term loan from the Vincent Melzac Collection. Downing was a member of the Washington Color School, a group of post-World War II painters whose influence helped to establish the city as a center for arts and culture. Vincent Melzac was a private collector of abstract art and the Administrative Director of the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.'s premier art museum.

Since its founding in 1947, the Agency has participated in both covert and public cultural diplomacy efforts throughout the world. It is speculated that some of the CIA's involvement in the arts was designed to counter Soviet Communism by helping to popularize what it considered pro-American thought and aesthetic sensibilities. Such involvement has raised historical questions about certain art forms or styles that may have elicited the interest of the Agency, including Abstract Expressionism.

Chromogenic print, 37-1/4 x 44-1/2 inches framed (94.6 x 113 cm), Edition of 7

© Taryn Simon

Tangle of branches and mosses including: Sitka Spruce, Vine Maple, Bigleaf Maple, Western Hemlock and understory of Sword Fern.

The Hoh Rain Forest is the largest, intact, preserved coastal temperate rain forest in the world. It is considered to be the wettest spot in the continental U.S., receiving 140 to 167 inches (12 to 14 feet) of rain per year. Located within Olympic National Park, the Hoh is fully protected from commercial exploitation. Rain forest beyond the park's borders, has been logged heavily over the past century.

The Pacific Yew, indigenous to the region and once considered an insignificant tree, was recently discovered to harbor Taxol, a naturally occurring compound that is now being used to treat ovarian, breast, and lung cancer.

Chromogenic print, 37-1/4 x 44-1/2 inches framed (94.6 x 113 cm), Edition of 7

© Taryn Simon

This is the largest model of Earth's core, consisting of a 10-foot-wide steel sphere filled with 14 tons of highly flammable liquid sodium representing Earth's molten iron outer core and a 3-foot-wide copper ball representing Earth's solid inner core. Built by geophysicists, led by Dr. Daniel P. Lanthrop, it generates its own geodynamo, a self- starting, self-sustaining magnetic field.

Like the Sun and Jupiter, Earth is surrounded by a magnetic field that extends thousands of miles into space. This magnetosphere protects Earth and its atmosphere from ultraviolet radiation and highly charged, deadly particles. Earth's magnetic field makes a compass point towards the North Pole and guides animals on migration paths, thereby aiding reproduction and species' survival.

Chromogenic print, 37-1/4 x 44-1/2 inches framed (94.6 x 113 cm), Edition of 7

© Taryn Simon

At Mansfield Correctional Institution, death row inmates are permitted one hour of outdoor recreation per day in individual or group containment areas known as cages or bullpens. Inside segregated cages there is only a chin-up bar and inmates are not permitted to bring any items with them. In non-segregated cages there is a stationary basketball net and they are permitted to bring with them items including a basketball, radio, deck of cards, and cigarettes.

All death row inmates at Mansfield are classified as having "mental health issues." In Atkins v. Virginia, the U.S. Supreme Court declared the execution of persons with mental retardation to be unconstitutional. Defining mental retardation is a controversial issue currently being addressed as part of the proposed Death Penalty Reform Act of 2006. 38 of the 50 U.S. states provide for the death penalty in law.

Chromogenic print, 37-1/4 x 44-1/2 inches framed (94.6 x 113 cm), Edition of 7

© Taryn Simon

This flask contains Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) that is infecting human peripheral blood mononuclear cells and replicating. It will be used to study the neutralizing potential of antibodies against HIV, in both individuals infected with the virus and participants in vaccine studies. The HIV Vaccine Trials Network was formed when the federal government reorganized its HIV vaccine research program in 1999. It is a division of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

There are no documented cases of anyone infected with HIV developing sterilizing immunity. More than 42 million people worldwide are infected with HIV. At the current rate of infection, experts predict that 90 million people will be HIV carriers by 2010. A new infection occurs approximately every 10 seconds.

Chromogenic print, 37-1/4 x 44-1/2 inches framed (94.6 x 113 cm), Edition of 7

© Taryn Simon

Anchor Mona Atari at the Alhurra news desk.

Alhurra is a U.S. Government-sponsored, Arabic language television network devoted primarily to news and information. Established in February 2004, the network broadcasts 24-hour, commercial-free satellite programming to an audience of 21 million weekly viewers in 22 Arab countries. In April 2004, a second Iraq-focused channel, Alhurra Iraq, was launched.

Section 501 of the U.S. Information and Education Exchange Act, passed by Congress in 1948, authorizes the U.S. Government to disseminate information abroad about the U.S. and its policies. Section 501 also prohibits domestic dissemination of that same information. It is therefore illegal to broadcast Alhurra domestically. Alhurra is Arabic for "the free one."

Chromogenic print, 37-1/4 x 44-1/2 inches framed (94.6 x 113 cm), Edition of 7

© Taryn Simon

These VSNL sub-marine telecommunications cables extend 8,037.4 miles across the Atlantic Ocean. Capable of transmitting over 60 million simultaneous voice conversations, these underwater fiber-optic cables stretch from Saunton Sands in the United Kingdom to the coast of New Jersey. The cables run below ground and emerge directly into the VSNL International headquarters, where signals are amplified and split into distinctive wavelengths enabling transatlantic phone calls and internet transmissions.

Chromogenic print, 37-1/4 x 44-1/2 inches framed (94.6 x 113 cm), Edition of 7

© Taryn Simon

African cane rats infested with maggots, African yams (dioscorea), Andean potatoes, Bangladeshi cucurbit plants, bush meat, cherimoya fruit, curry leaves (murraya), dried orange peels, fresh eggs, giant African snail, impala skull cap, jackfruit seeds, June plum, kola nuts, mango, okra, passion fruit, pig nose, pig mouths, pork, raw poultry (chicken), South American pig head, South American tree tomatoes, South Asian lime infected with citrus canker, sugar cane (poaceae), uncooked meats, unidentified sub tropical plant in soil.

All items in the photograph were seized from the baggage of passengers arriving in the U.S. at JFK Terminal 4 from abroad over a 48-hour period. All seized items are identified, dissected, and then either ground up or incinerated. JFK processes more international passengers than any other airport in the United States.

Chromogenic print, 37-1/4 x 44-1/2 inches framed (94.6 x 113 cm), Edition of 7

© Taryn Simon

Lucasfilm Archives was built in 1991 to preserve the artifacts used in the making of writer, director and producer George Lucas's films. The collection, housed at Skywalker Ranch, includes props, costumes and set pieces from some of the highest grossing films in the history of cinema, including the Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises.

In Star Wars: Episode VI-Return of the Jedi, Death Star II is seen as a mirror image (flipped). Here it is pictured in its true orientation. Death Star II measures 51 x 27 x 51 inches and has a painted acrylic fa溝de with photoetched brass detailing. Within the context of the films, Death Star II is a deep space battle station used by the Galactic Empire measuring 160 kilometers in diameter, outfitted with turbolasers, tractor beams and a superlaser which has the ability to annihilate entire planets and civilizations.

Chromogenic print, 37-1/4 x 44-1/2 inches framed (94.6 x 113 cm), Edition of 7

© Taryn Simon

In 2004 the Monterey Bay Aquarium (MBA) became the first aquarium in the world to place a great white shark in long-term captivity. It was held there for 198 days. In that time it grew from 5 feet and 62 pounds to 6 feet, 4 1/2 inches and 162 pounds. It developed visible nose injuries from bumping into the glass walls of the Outer Bay and killed two other sharks.

As part of its White Shark Research Project, scientists brought the shark into the MBA after it was caught in a nearby fishing net. The goal of the MBA's White Shark Research Program is to better protect white sharks by gaining insight into their biology, behavior, and involvement in the marine ecosystem. In 2004, the World Wildlife Fund placed Great Whites on the WWF 10 Most Wanted list, a list of the world's most sought after species for marketable souvenirs and food.

Chromogenic print, 37-1/4 x 44-1/2 inches framed (94.6 x 113 cm), Edition of 7

© Taryn Simon