Kenny the Retarded White Tiger

© Taryn Simon

Last week I attended a lecture by Taryn Simon at Aperture. Taryn has always inspired me and I find a lot of parallels between our approach to photography. The lecture was great and I learned a bit about her process, but I walked away fascinated by her image of Kenny, a retarded white tiger, from the series, An Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar. It would be safe to say that Kenny has haunted my dreams. Of course, it doesn't help that the subways of New York are plastered with ads for the Ringling Bros circus that features three white tigers (are they retarded, too?) and a clown with a high top fade (definitely retarded).

The process of producing white tigers is pretty horrible and those that survive end up being sentenced to life with flamboyant magicians and eccentric celebrities. Not exactly prime tiger habitat. Seriously, read up on white tigers and you will be haunted, too