James Bond is the world's most famous spy. He's also an esteemed ornithologist.
Everyone who knows Bond knows Ian Fleming is the British former naval intelligence officer who wrote the 14 novels that gave rise to the roguish spy. But Fleming had another passion: birds. He so loved them that he named his dashing protagonist after American ornithologist James Bond. As Bond the spy grew in stature, Bond the ornithologist faded from view. This dynamic fascinates photographer Taryn Simon. "What’s interesting to me is how identity can be usurped by fiction,” she says. "When you’re dealing with such a powerful fantasy, there’s almost a third space that opens up between fiction and reality."
Her series Birds of the West Indies (which shares its name with an ornithology book written by the real Bond and beloved by Fleming) sits within that surreal space. It combines Bond the agent with Bond the ornithologist, examining both men through the creatures and objects that enchanted them—or, as Simon cheekily puts it, their mutual "love of birds."
Part 1 features the British spy's "birds"---his love interests, weapons, and luxury cars. From his iconic Walther PPK to the Aston Martin DBS he favored in later films, Simon tracked down the spy's best hardware at museums, auction houses, and private collections around the world. She photographed them against a simple black backdrop, much like an ornithologist might pin a small bird to a board. "I was dissecting the components of a fantasy that has had a global draw over a long period of time," she says.
She also contacted the 57 women who appear in the films. Ten of them weren't interested in participating, so Simon used an empty black frame instead of a portrait. Of those who said, "No thanks," several did so simply because they had no desire to revisit the Bond universe. "You have these people who have other names and lives outside the films, yet the fiction is so strong and so powerful that it’s almost impossible to see them independent of their established characters," Simon says. "And I think for them, as well, it’s difficult."
Part 2 is a taxonomy of birds that appear in the movies. Simon binge-watched the films several times, collecting over 300 stills and classifying each animal by location (be it a real place like Switzerland or a fictional one like Spectre Island), much like Bond categorized the creatures in Birds of the West Indies. They're juxtaposed with images of the ornithologist's correspondence and papers detailing expeditions, kills, and awards. It’s strange to see them close with Bond’s signature. "You can’t help but read those letters and think that it’s been written and signed by the fabricated man, as opposed to the ornithologist,” Simon says.
Each image tells a different story about James Bond. And in the end, it's still hard to parse fact from fiction. It shows that the two Bonds are inextricably linked. “It’s this strange thing that happens to your mind, where you can’t find reality," Simon says. "And for me, that’s what it’s about—this weird collapse."
Taryn Simon: Birds of the West Indies shows at the Eastman Gallery in Rochester, New York from February 13 through May 15.