Photos of contraband items seized at JFK

August 7, 2010

What you see above is just a small sample set of illegal items detained or seized at JFK airport from passengers and express mail entering the United States. Over a span of five days Taryn Simon snapped 1,075 photos of contraband stuff. The New York Times has a nice interactive page with some of these photos. It’s quite fascinating.

The miscellany of prohibited objects — from the everyday to the illegal to the just plain odd — attests to a growing worldwide traffic in counterfeit goods and natural exotica and offers a snapshot of the United States as seen through its illicit material needs and desires.

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