'Avian Quarantine Facility, The New York Animal Import Center, Newburgh, New York' depicts three cages of birds in the corner of a sterile-looking room. The photograph’s extended caption informs us that the birds are 'European Finches seized upon illegal importation to into the U.S. and African Gray Parrots in quarantine.' The birds are dwarfed by their artificial, scientific surroundings. The photograph's limited, almost washed-out palette is in keeping with the institutional, fluorescent-lit dreariness of the location and the only specks of bright colours are the parrots' tails, their toys and their feeding dishes.

The photograph is from 'An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar', a series of photographs that reveal a range of remarkable places and things. Some are things whose very existence is surprising, such as a Braille edition of Playboy magazine. We may be aware of the existence of some of her other subjects, such as a vial of live HIV virus, or a cryopreservation unit (in which dead bodies are frozen in the hope of someday being brought back to life), but most of us would only be able to imagine what such things look like. In a straightforward, almost clinical style, Taryn Simon's photographs show that these things do exist and document their appearance.