Nan Goldin
Few artists and photographers are willing to show the ugly side of life in their work. There is little magic and lyricism in routine of everyday life, it is not the best source inspiration. However, there are truly unique creators who see the beauty of the moment even when fate turns ugly for people who know about pain. Nan Goldin is such a photographer, the author of diary photography.
Nan Goldin was born in 1953 into an intellectual family. She was exposed to many life issues as a child. When she was 11, her 18-year-old sister to whom she was very close, committed suicide. The girl was strongly affected by this event, later her therapist has repeatedly noted that she herself had suicidal thoughts. To keep her life from ending as tragically, at the age of 15 Nan started taking photos of her close people, as she said herself "to remember them". That's how she started to keep her diary, which almost every girl keeps under the pillow and doesn't show to parents. But in her case, this diary became known to the whole world.
Nan Goldin was born in 1953 into an intellectual family. She was exposed to many life issues as a child. When she was 11, her 18-year-old sister to whom she was very close, committed suicide. The girl was strongly affected by this event, later her therapist has repeatedly noted that she herself had suicidal thoughts. To keep her life from ending as tragically, at the age of 15 Nan started taking photos of her close people, as she said herself "to remember them". That's how she started to keep her diary, which almost every girl keeps under the pillow and doesn't show to parents. But in her case, this diary became known to the whole world.
Nan Goldin
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«A diary, including a visual one, can only be true if it is made by a person who shares this way of life, these values and world view».
Her adult life began all too soon. At the age of 14, her rebellious teen behaviour made her run away from home. In 1977 she graduated from the Fine Arts school in Boston and moved to New York where she continued to photograph her now very large family of friends, distant relatives and lovers. This was the era of punks, sexual liberation and the epidemic drug abuse. And this is what Nan Goldin’s photos featured in the late ‘70s.
For Nan Goldin it was not a reportage photography, she does not see it as something outlandish or unusual, because she lived the exact same life as her subjects. A diary, including a visual one, can only be true if it is made by a person who shares this way of life, these values and world view.
For Nan Goldin it was not a reportage photography, she does not see it as something outlandish or unusual, because she lived the exact same life as her subjects. A diary, including a visual one, can only be true if it is made by a person who shares this way of life, these values and world view.
Professional photographers believed that she made her photos without caring about her work and some even called them rather amateurish. She used standard 35 mm film storing the insight into New York bohemia of those years.
One could join Bohemian circles back then in various ways, transvestites were almost always more than welcomed. LGBT+ persons also became protagonists of her works.
Later Nan Goldin’s photos moved from potrayals of people to more candid and indecent scenes – naked lovers of all sexual orientations, opium and other drug addicts, the aftermath of sexual and physical abuse. As she herself often underlines in many interviews, when she first started in photography, the prevailing view in society was that a woman by her nature could not be a good creator.
But not only did she brilliantly proved that statement wrong, she took it upon herself to show aspects of human life that even seasoned photographers tried to avoid.
One could join Bohemian circles back then in various ways, transvestites were almost always more than welcomed. LGBT+ persons also became protagonists of her works.
Later Nan Goldin’s photos moved from potrayals of people to more candid and indecent scenes – naked lovers of all sexual orientations, opium and other drug addicts, the aftermath of sexual and physical abuse. As she herself often underlines in many interviews, when she first started in photography, the prevailing view in society was that a woman by her nature could not be a good creator.
But not only did she brilliantly proved that statement wrong, she took it upon herself to show aspects of human life that even seasoned photographers tried to avoid.
«When you capture such dreadful moments, you can't say it didn't happen: the photograph is the proof.
Many women who saw this series thanked me. Although many still go back to their lovers, who treat them terribly».
Many women who saw this series thanked me. Although many still go back to their lovers, who treat them terribly».
Her very first photo series “The Ballad of Sexual Dependency” attracts the most interest.
It comprising almost 750 snapshot-like portraits, including herself as a protagonist after she was beaten by her boyfriend with whom she was in a relationship at the time.
“Nan, one month after being battered” is a documented fact that can never be forgotten. It is a reminder for the future that it must never happen again, neither in Goldin's life nor in any woman's life.
Nan Goldin's personal bio was exactly the same as featured in her photographs – she has never had a husband or children, had multiple sexual relationships with people of different gender identities, and often had affairs while drunk or "unclean" (it was not until 2000s that she could cope with drug addiction). But this does not change the fact that domestic abuse should be severely punished.
It comprising almost 750 snapshot-like portraits, including herself as a protagonist after she was beaten by her boyfriend with whom she was in a relationship at the time.
“Nan, one month after being battered” is a documented fact that can never be forgotten. It is a reminder for the future that it must never happen again, neither in Goldin's life nor in any woman's life.
Nan Goldin's personal bio was exactly the same as featured in her photographs – she has never had a husband or children, had multiple sexual relationships with people of different gender identities, and often had affairs while drunk or "unclean" (it was not until 2000s that she could cope with drug addiction). But this does not change the fact that domestic abuse should be severely punished.
In 1986 Nan Goldin publishes the book “The Ballads of Sexual Dependency”, and in the early 1990s she launches the books “The Other Side” and “A Double Life”. After that, she suddenly disappeared from the media space and was not heard of until the 2010s. She remained silent to 2014, when she published a new collection of photographs of childhood “Eden and After”.
It was not without scandal - many critics drew parallels between "Eden and After” and her very first project, hinting at a strong reference to child pornography.
However, Nan Goldin strongly rejects all attacks against her, reminding the audience once again that she is only photographing life as it is.
It was not without scandal - many critics drew parallels between "Eden and After” and her very first project, hinting at a strong reference to child pornography.
However, Nan Goldin strongly rejects all attacks against her, reminding the audience once again that she is only photographing life as it is.