About Nan Goldin
Goldin's older sister Barbara committed suicide in 1965, aged eighteen, after years in psychiatric institutions. Goldin later discovered that fears about Barbara's sexuality had played a role in her institutionalisation. This loss shaped everything.
She was born in Washington, D.C., in 1953, left home at thirteen, lived in foster care, and started photographing at fifteen. Her first subjects were local drag queens. The Ballad of Sexual Dependency, begun in 1981, is a diaristic slideshow of intimate, often unfocused, strongly coloured photographs set to a soundtrack of rock, blues, opera, and reggae. It was first shown in nightclubs before moving to galleries.
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Nan Goldin
Goldin's older sister Barbara committed suicide in 1965, aged eighteen, after years in psychiatric institutions. Goldin later discovered that fears about Barbara's sexuality had played a role in her institutionalisation. This loss shaped everything. She was born in Washington, D.C., in 1953, left home at thirteen, lived in foster care, and started photographing at fifteen. Her first subjects were local drag queens. The Ballad of Sexual Dependency, begun in 1981, is a diaristic slideshow of intimate, often unfocused, strongly coloured photographs set to a soundtrack of rock, blues, opera, and reggae. It was first shown in nightclubs before moving to galleries. She became addicted to OxyContin after wrist surgery and disclosed her addiction publicly in 2017. She founded P.A.I.N. (Prescription Addiction Intervention Now) to target the Sackler family, staging protests at the Met and other institutions. Her campaign directly contributed to museums worldwide removing the Sackler name from galleries and education centres. Laura Poitras's documentary about her, All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, won best film at the 2022 Venice Film Festival.
