Flavorwire

For five days, conceptual photographer Taryn Simon lived at JFK Airport in New York and documented an exhaustive amount of prohibited, illegal, dangerous, and strange items that were confiscated from passengers and express mailing entering the United States. From piles of Pakistani steroids to gallons of Polish date rape drugs to unidentified animal corpses, Simon tirelessly snapped over 1,000 photos in her makeshift studio at Terminal 4. This emporium of imagery was published in her book Contraband. Over time, patterns of desire emerge. While the basic illicit essentials like Louis Vuitton and cheap Chinese Viagra knockoffs are always in high demand, it’s the truly exotic things that pique our interest — salted slab of pork fat from Ukraine, anyone? Mmm? Browse through our picks from the illegal loot in the gallery.

Image credit: Taryn Simon. Bird corpse, labeled as home décor, Indonesia to Miami, Florida (prohibited).