A Living Man Declared Dead and Other Chapters was produced over a four-year period (2008-11), during which Simon travelled around the world researching and recording bloodlines and their related stories. In each of the eighteen 'chapters' that make up the work, the external forces of territory, power, circumstance or religion collide with the internal forces of psychological and physical inheritance. The subjects documented by Simon include feuding families in Brazil, victims of genocide in Bosnia, the body double of Saddam Hussein's son Uday, and the living dead in India. Her collection is at once cohesive and arbitrary, mapping the relationships among chance, blood, and other components of fate.

» Tate Modern interview with Taryn Simon

While visiting the local land registry office, Shivdutt Yadav (1) discovered that official records listed him as dead. His land was no longer registered in his name. Yadav's two brothers, Chandrabhan (18) and Phoolchand (19), and their first cousin, Ram Surat (a), were also listed as dead. Land registry records documented the transfer of Yadav's property to his father's other living heirs, allowing them to inherit his share of the family's ancestral farmland. These relatives reportedly threatened to destroy the family home on the property unless it was vacated immediately.

In Uttar Pradesh, India, land provides the primary source of income for most residents. Exponential population growth, property shortages, and repeated subdivision have heightened competition for land. Records officials are frequently bribed to have living people declared dead in order to redirect the hereditary transfer of land to new owners. These bribes commonly range from 45 to 2,250 INR (1 to 50 USD).

Yadav, his brothers, and his first cousin have been trying to reverse land registry records and regain legal status as living owners and heirs. Several official letters, including some signed by village residents, were sent to local police and records officials supporting their claims. According to the Yadav family, the local court has been scheduling dates for a case review since 2001, but a judge has never appeared. Judicial delay is common in Uttar Pradesh due to corruption, backlogs, and a shortage of judges. In several instances, people have died before their cases were reviewed. Yadav and his family vacated their home but still farm the contested land. The house is currently unoccupied.

© Taryn Simon

9. Yadav, Babloo, ~11/12 (birth date unknown). Student. Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh, India.
10. Yadav, Mukesh, ~10/11 (birth date unknown). Student. Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh, India.
12. Yadav, Dabloo, ~11 (birth date unknown). Student. Jalandhar, Punjab, India. [Emergency/70 homes destroyed in village fire, including grandmother’s]
21. Yadav, Urmila, ~24 (birth date unknown). Homemaker. Masuriapur, Uttar Pradesh, India. [Participation not permitted for religious and social reasons]

© Taryn Simon

b. Letter to the chief judicial magistrate of Azamgarh demanding official recognition that Shivdutt, Chandrabhan, Phoolchand, and Ram Surat Yadav are living and maintain legal title to their land. The letter also requests that legal action be taken against all officers and family members who filed false information. Family file, Azamgarh.

d. Corpse of a person with leprosy floating in the Ganges River. The dead are cremated on the banks of the river or tied to heavy stones and sunk in the water. Dhanaiy Yadav, Shivdutt Yadav's father, was cremated along the banks and his ashes were scattered in the river. Ganges River, Varanasi.

© Taryn Simon

Arthur Ruppin was sent by the Zionist Organization to Palestine in 1907 to investigate agricultural and industrial development possibilities for Jewish settlement. In 1908 he moved with his wife, Selma Lewek, to Jaffa, where he established the Zionist Organization’s Palestine Office, tasked with acquiring land for Jewish settlements. As the office’s director, Ruppin worked toward the systematic settlement of land through the spread of self-governing Jewish communities. He oversaw land acquisition on behalf of the Palestine Land Development Company, whose work led to the establishment of a Jewish state. Ruppin financed urban and rural experimental settlements with funds from supporters of the Zionist movement. He was instrumental in securing funding for land on the Carmel mountain range, and in Afula, the Jezreel Valley, Jerusalem, and Ahuzat Bayit, which became Tel Aviv.

Originally a founder and strong supporter of Brit Shalom, a movement that supported a bi-national state in Palestine, Ruppin later rejected the idea after the violent 1929 riots in which Jews and the local Arab population clashed over issues including access to the Western Wall in Jerusalem. Ruppin subsequently committed himself to the establishment of an independent Jewish state through continued land acquisition and settlement. As head of the Jewish Agency for Israel, he assisted in the absorption of Yemenite Jews and the settling of German Jewish immigrants during the Nazi rise to power. After his appointment in 1926 to the sociology department at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Ruppin published The Jews in the Modern World (1934) and The Jewish Fate and Future (1940).

© Taryn Simon

c. Independence Hall, the site of the signing of Israel’s Declaration of Independence in 1948. Independence Hall, Tel Aviv.

© Taryn Simon

d. Report for a possible Jewish settlement in British East Africa for the Zionist Organization, 1905. Central Zionist Archives, Jerusalem.

e. Population density map of the Uganda Protectorate for the Zionist Commission, 1902. Records show that Arthur Ruppin found Uganda’s climate unsuitable for Jewish settlement. Central Zionist Archives, Jerusalem.

f. Map of the Guas Ngishu Plateau in British East Africa for the Zionist Commission, 1905. Central Zionist Archives, Jerusalem.

© Taryn Simon

Joseph Nyamwanda Jura Ondijo (1) treats patients suffering from a wide range of conditions, including evil spirits, infertility, and mental illness, as well as tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS. He is most commonly paid for his services in cash, cows, or goats, but sometimes his female patients are offered to him in marriage, by their families, in exchange for treatment. Ondijo has nine wives, thirty-two children, and sixty-three grandchildren. Two of his wives came to Ondijo suffering from infertility; both were cured and had his children. Three wives were brought to Ondijo suffering from evil spirits. Another had an asthmatic condition and severe chest pains. Ondijo claims he selected two wives for love, paying their families a total of sixteen cows. One of his wives deserted him, and another passed away during treatment for evil spirits.

Polygamy is widely practiced in Kenya. It is more common among a privileged class capable of keeping multiple homes and paying numerous dowries. Instances of prominent Kenyan political and social figures in polygamous relationships have reinforced the perception of polygamy as a symbol of wealth, status, and power. Recent legislative efforts supporting the practice include a bill proposing the legal recognition of civil polygamous marriage. Supporters have claimed that polygamy offers an alternative to infidelity in areas with a high concentration of HIV/AIDS. Many organizations dispute this with statistical evidence of higher rates of HIV/AIDS in men and women in polygamous unions.

Ondijo claims his decisions to take on additional wives were often made in collaboration with his first wife, Maria Awuor Nyamwanda, with the intention of easing the burden of domestic duties, such as child-bearing, helping with agricultural work, and looking after Ondijo and his practice.

© Taryn Simon

1. Ondijo, Joseph Nyamwanda Jura, 1928 (exact birth date unknown). Herbal healer. Kisumu, Nyanza Province, Kenya.
2. Oyugi, Jane Adhiambo, 20 Dec. 1962. Farmer. Kisumu, Nyanza Province, Kenya.

© Taryn Simon

81. Nyamwanda, Mary Atieno, 07 Mar. 1989. Farmer. Kisumu, Nyanza Province, Kenya.
82. Nyamwanda, Lameck Odhiambo, 07 May 2008. Kisumu, Nyanza Province, Kenya.

© Taryn Simon

Latif Yahia (2) claims to have been the body double of Uday Hussein, Saddam Hussein's son. Yahia was a classmate of Uday, and the two were often mistaken for each other. After completing his studies in law and government, Yahia enlisted in the army as part of Iraq's compulsory military service. His commander later released him with instructions to report to the presidential palace, where security forces were seeking a "fiday" (body double) for Uday. This search was reportedly initiated following information regarding possible assassination attempts by Iranians against the Hussein family. Yahia declined the offer to become Uday's body double and consequently was placed in solitary confinement. He accepted the position only after rape threats were made against his sister.

Yahia had reconstructive surgery on his teeth and chin in a Baghdad hospital in 1987. He was given shoes with three-centimeter lifts to match Uday's exact height. His training involved watching films of Uday to study his mannerisms and behavior, including videos of Iraqis being tortured and executed on Uday's command. Before each event as Uday, Yahia received instructions on what to wear, what to say, and how to move. He was always accompanied by security forces responsible for ensuring that he maintained character. Yahia was released from his duties as Uday's body double after four years, in the summer of 1991, following the conclusion of the Gulf War. According to Yahia, he was then arrested and tortured for several weeks under suspicion of meeting with one of Uday's girlfriends. His recovery involved a forty-five-day hospital stay before he fled to a Kurdish- held area in northern Iraq. He claims he was flown to Turkey in 1992 by American operatives in exchange for information.

© Taryn Simon

5. Yahia, Omar, 27 Sept. 1993. Hamburg, Germany. [Declined participation]
6. Yahia, Chimin, 09 June 1995. Student. Undisclosed location, Ireland. (adopted from Latif Yahia's brother)

© Taryn Simon

a. Gold-plated Iraqi Al-Kadissiya sniper rifle seized by members of the American Defense Intelligence Agency during a search of Uday Hussein's palace in Baghdad. The inscription on the gun translated from Arabic reads: "A gift from the president of the republic, Mr. Saddam Hussein." Saddam Hussein produced gold-plated weapons for use on ceremonial occasions and as gifts. Defense Intelligence Analysis Center, Bolling Air Force Base, Washington, D.C.

© Taryn Simon

b. Latif Yahia impersonating Uday Hussein. Undisclosed location, Ireland.

c. Medals received by Latif Yahia in 1991 for alleged service to the Iraqi government as Uday Hussein's body double in Kuwait. Personal effects, undisclosed location, Ireland.

© Taryn Simon

Twenty-four European rabbits were introduced to Australia in 1859 for hunting purposes on an estate in Victoria. Within one hundred years the rabbit population exploded to half a billion. As a consequence of early sexual maturity, short gestation, and large litters, a single female rabbit can produce between thirty and forty young per year.

Since the 1950s Australia has introduced lethal diseases into the wild rabbit population to control growth. This includes the rabbit haemorrhagic disease virus (RHDV), which was introduced in 1995. Rabbits in certain regions have shown moderate resistance to the original strain of RHDV, but not to field strains that subsequently emerged.

In a controlled test, the Robert Wicks Pest Animal Research Centre (RWPARC), a division of Biosecurity Queensland, bred three bloodlines of test rabbits (A, B, C) from wild rabbits (A.1, B.1, C.1) trapped at Turretfield near Adelaide, a region that has shown resistance to RHDV. Scientists at the RWPARC infected the test rabbits with samples of RHDV field strains collected in 2006, 2007, and 2009. These newer field strains killed most of the rabbits in the course of the trial, revealing that these strains maintained greater virulence than the strain of RHDV introduced in 1995. Rabbits not infected were euthanized.

European rabbits have no natural predators in Australia. They compete with native wildlife, degrade land, and damage native plants and vegetation. Earlier population control methods involved shooting, trapping, destruction of warrens, fumigation, and the construction of 3,256 kilometers of fencing. Severe environmental and agricultural damage attributed to rabbits incurs annual costs in Australia of between 600 million and 1 billion AUD.

© Taryn Simon

49. No. 322, 27 May 2009. Inglewood, Queensland, Australia.
50. No. 323, 27 May 2009. Inglewood, Queensland, Australia.
51. No. 326, 27 May 2009. Inglewood, Queensland, Australia.
52. No. 327, 27 May 2009. Inglewood, Queensland, Australia.

© Taryn Simon

a. Haigh's chocolate Easter Bilby replaced Haigh's Easter Bunny in 1993. Haigh's stopped making chocolate bunnies and joined forces with the Foundation for Rabbit-Free Australia in an effort to counter the annual celebration of rabbits. Product of Haigh's Chocolates, Adelaide.

b. Rabbits killed with .22 Magnum rifles by NatureCall, an organization hired to eliminate rabbits from private properties. Dead rabbits are laid out to record data, including sex, age, pregnancy, and active virus status. Cattle-grazing property west of Kingaroy, Queensland.

© Taryn Simon

In five days in July 1995, Bosnian Serb soldiers systematically executed approximately 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica. Under the command of General Ratko Mladic, units from the Army of Republika Srpska attacked a United Nations-designated safe area. Dutch troops charged with protecting the UN camp were outnumbered and not equipped to fight back. Muslim men and boys from the camp and surrounding areas were rounded up, beaten, and killed. They were buried in mass graves, some still alive. Disarticulated body parts were found in secondary grave sites, indicating that human remains had been scattered in an effort to conceal the event.

Tooth and bone samples of Ahmedin Mehic (4), Hazim Mehic (5), Enis Mehic (6), Mustafa Muminovic (8), and Ibro Nukic (14) were discovered in mass graves in Podrinje, eastern Bosnia. The International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) identified them by matching their DNA with blood samples from family members. The mortal remains of Bajazit Mehic (3) were assembled at the ICMP's Podrinje Identification Project in Tuzla and buried at the Srebrenica-Potocari Memorial and Cemetery on the fifteenth anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre. The ICMP has identified over 6,000 of the estimated 8,000 persons killed at Srebrenica. All remains are archived in a photographic database at the Identification Coordination Division of ICMP.

The Srebrenica massacre is the largest mass murder in Europe since the Second World War. Ongoing trials at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia have led to convictions of genocide. Mladic, charged with genocide, complicity in genocide, crimes against humanity, and violations of the laws or customs of war, remains a fugitive. The Bosnian war left over 100,000 dead. Approximately 20,000 people, mostly Bosnian Muslims, were killed in and around UN-designated safe areas.

© Taryn Simon

1. Nukic, Nezir, 1928 (exact birth date unknown). Forester and road builder. Zivinice, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
2. Mehic, Zumra, 09 Dec. 1950. Homemaker. Kladanj, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
3. Mehic, Bajazit, 16 Sept. 1972 Ð 11 July 1995. Mortal remains, International Commission on Missing Persons, Podrinje Identification Project. Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
4. Mehic, Ahmedin, 16 Feb. 1974 Ð 12 July 1995. Tooth sample used for DNA matching, International Commission on Missing Persons. Srebrenica-Potocari Memorial and Cemetery, Srebrenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

© Taryn Simon

a. Personal effects discovered in a mass grave. Podrinje Identification Project, Tuzla.

© Taryn Simon

b. Graffiti in the Potocari battery factory used as a barracks by Dutch UN soldiers and Bosnian Serb soldiers after the fall of the Srebrenica enclave. Potocari battery factory, Srebrenica.

d. Video footage introduced at former Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic's trial, revealing a Serbian paramilitary unit's involvement in the Srebrenica massacre. It depicts an Orthodox priest blessing members of the "Scorpions" unit, who are subsequently shown lining up six young Bosnian Muslim men along a dirt road. The young men are later shot in the back in a grassy area beside the road. Undisclosed source, Sarajevo.

© Taryn Simon

Leila Khaled (1), a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), hijacked her first plane on August 29, 1969. After several plastic surgeries to alter her appearance, Khaled was involved in a coordinated series of hijackings in 1970 known as the Dawson’s Field hijackings.

Khaled was born in Haifa, but she and her family were displaced in 1948 as a result of the Arab– Israeli War and relocated to a refugee camp in Tyre, Lebanon. She joined the Arab Nationalist Movement and committed to fulltime armed struggle at the age of fifteen. At the time of the hijackings, Khaled demanded the release of all Palestinian and Arab prisoners in Israel. Through her work with the PFLP, her demands include a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital, the right of return for Palestinian refugees, the withdrawal of Israel from the land it has occupied since 1967, and the right to self-determination.

The first woman to hijack an aircraft, Khaled, along with her partner Salim Issawi, commandeered TWA flight 840 from Rome to Tel Aviv, armed with grenades and handguns. The plane was diverted to Damascus where the hostages were directed to disembark before the aircraft’s cockpit was blown up. This hijacking led to the release of Palestinian political prisoners in exchange for Israeli hostages and made Khaled a celebrated figure of Palestinian militancy.

Changes made to her nose and chin allowed Khaled to avoid detection and board El Al flight 219 from Amsterdam to New York for her second hijacking attempt. She boarded the plane with Nicaraguan PFLP member Patrick Arguello, two passports from Honduras, and grenades in her pockets. Khaled and Arguello attempted to storm the cockpit, but the pilot reportedly put the plane into a steep nosedive to throw them off balance. Arguello was shot dead by plainclothes armed guards aboard the El Al plane, and Khaled was captured. The aircraft made an emergency landing at London’s Heathrow Airport. Khaled was arrested and held at Ealing police station for twenty-eight days before Prime Minister Edward Heath released her in a bitterly opposed exchange for hostages held by the PFLP.

© Taryn Simon

b. Painting of Leila Khaled by a Palestinian artist who replicated the widely disseminated photograph of Khaled taken before her plastic surgery. Khaled home, Amman.

c. Mohammed Abu al-Haija, Syrian prisoner convicted of attacking an El Al flight in Zurich on February 18, 1969. He was released in a hostage exchange resulting from the Dawson’s Field hijackings. Kanaan for Research and Studies, Amman.

d. View of Haifa, the former home of Leila Khaled and her family. Khaled claims she forced the pilot of TWA flight 840 to fly over the city during her hijacking. Haifa.

© Taryn Simon

© Taryn Simon

7. Frank, Norman, 06 Mar. 1928. Bavarian television facilities director (retired). Schliersee, Germany.
8. MJK, 24 May 1958. (Information withheld). [Sent clothing as representation]

© Taryn Simon

15. (Information withheld).
16. (Information withheld). [Parent declined participation]

© Taryn Simon

c. Official Adolf Hitler postage stamp and Hans Frank imitation stamp. The Hitler stamp was printed in 1941 for the second anniversary of the founding of the Generalgouvernement and was in circulation until the end of the Second World War. A replica of the Hitler stamp, with Frank’s image, was produced by British intelligence and released in Poland to provoke friction between Frank and Hitler. Henry Gitner Philatelists, Inc., New York.

e. Leonardo da Vinci’s Lady with an Ermine, taken by German troops from the Czartoryski collection during the Second World War. It hung in the Wawel apartment of Hans Frank and was later brought to his family home, Schoberhof. After Frank’s arrest, the painting was returned to the Czartoryski Museum, where it now hangs across from the empty frame for Raphael’s missing Portrait of a Youth. Czartoryski Museum, Krakow.

f. Rembrandt’s Landscape with the Good Samaritan, taken by German troops from the Czartoryski collection during the Second World War. One of only eight oil landscapes painted by the artist, it was returned to the Czartoryski Museum upon Frank’s arrest. Czartoryski Museum, Krakow.

© Taryn Simon

Ribal Btaddini (17) is believed to be the reincarnation of his paternal grandfather, Milhem Btaddini (17). He is therefore both father and son to his own father, Fouad Btaddini (18), and the grandfather of his brothers, Feras Btaddini (19) and Iad Btaddini (21). As a child, Ribal was able to recall aspects of his previous life, including the location of his home and how to get there; clothing and where it had been purchased; bombings that had taken place the night of his death; and how his wife tried to drag his injured body to safety. Ribal belongs to the Druze, a religious community found primarily in Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, and Syria. Reincarnation is central to their beliefs. Druze traditions derive from the Ismaili sect of Islam and are influenced by Gnostic principles and Greek philosophy. They do not accept converts, as their belief in intra-community reincarnation precludes the possibility of outside believers. The largely secular majority of Druze (juhhal) are denied access to holy literature and religious meetings by initiated members (uqqal) responsible for enforcing a strict code of moral and ethical behavior. The Druze played an integral role in the formation of the modern state of Lebanon. They have long concealed the more esoteric aspects of their beliefs for fear of persecution.

Four additional relatives of Ribal Btaddini claim to have memories from previous lives. Samar Barakat (116) remembers drowning while trying to save her daughter who had fallen from a window into the sea. Ragheed Chehayeb (5) remembers piloting a plane that was hit by a missile and crashed in Israel. Chérine Barakat (117) remembers being tall, wearing long skirts with her hair tied up, and having many homes, including one in London as well as a palace. Amal Btaddini (11) remembers the necklace she used to wear as Najla Daou and the names of several people in Daou family photographs whom she has never met. She was born on the same day that Daou passed away. It is assumed that if a child has no memories from a previous life, then that life contained no noteworthy events or something interfered with the child’s memory.

© Taryn Simon

a. Said Bou Hamdan reenacting his death as Najib Al-Awar. Bou Hamdan claims he drowned in his previous life as Al-Awar, following an airplane crash. Deauville Beach, Khalde.

f. Sheikh Naim Hassan, Druze spiritual leader. Dar El Taifeh, Beirut.

© Taryn Simon

c. Ribal Btaddini reenacting his death as his paternal grandfather, Milhem Btaddini. Ribal claims he died in his previous life as Milhem in a bomb attack during which his wife tried to drag his injured body to safety. Al-Risala Social Union Hall, Aley.

d. Nazih Al-Danaf reenacting his death as Fuad Khaddage. Al-Danaf claims he was assassinated in his previous life as Khaddage while at his desk at the Dar El Taifeh in Beirut. Al-Risala Social Union Hall, Aley.

© Taryn Simon

Children at this Ukrainian orphanage are between the ages of six and sixteen. Current orphanage records show that only one child was adopted in a twelvemonth period. All children must leave the orphanage at age sixteen. If space is available, they are placed in continuing education programs and monitored by the director of the orphanage for five years.

It is commonly reported that when children leave Ukrainian orphanages they can be targeted for human trafficking, prostitution, and child pornography. Many are forced into crime for their survival, and high rates of suicide are recorded. Ukraine is not a party to the 1993 Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption, whose mission includes the prevention of the abduction, sale, and trafficking of children worldwide. Ukraine’s State Department for the Adoption and Protection of Rights of the Child maintains a database of children available for domestic and international adoption.

This orphanage has an insufficient supply of beds and warm clothing. Children bathe infrequently, as hot water is not available until the gas is turned on in mid-October. The annual purchasing budget, according to its director, is approximately 7,000 hryvnia (880 USD). The director listed the orphanage’s most urgent needs as: an industrial-size washing machine and dryer, four vacuum cleaners, two computers, a video projector, a copy machine, winter shoes, and a dentist’s drill.

© Taryn Simon

17. (Name withheld), 10 Nov. 1993. Student. Undisclosed location, Ukraine.
18. (Name withheld), 25 Nov. 1993. Student. Undisclosed location, Ukraine.
19. (Name withheld), 17 Jan. 1994. Student. Undisclosed location, Ukraine.
20. (Name withheld), 26 Jan. 1994. Student. Undisclosed location, Ukraine.

© Taryn Simon

116. (Name withheld), ~8 (birth date unknown). Student. Undisclosed location, Ukraine.
117. (Name withheld), ~8 (birth date unknown). Student. Undisclosed location, Ukraine.
118. (Name withheld), ~7 (birth date unknown). Student. Undisclosed location, Ukraine.
119. (Name withheld), ~6 (birth date unknown). Student. Undisclosed location, Ukraine.

© Taryn Simon

b. Boys’ bedroom at the orphanage. Undisclosed location, Ukraine.

c. Girls’ bedroom at the orphanage. Undisclosed location, Ukraine.

© Taryn Simon

a. History classroom at the orphanage with framed inscription above the blackboard. Translated from Ukrainian, it reads: “Those who do not know their past are not worthy of their future…” Undisclosed location, Ukraine.

d. Wooden figure of a stork delivering a child, made by one of the children at the orphanage. Undisclosed location,Ukraine.

© Taryn Simon