Nan Goldin

Nan Goldin

Goldin is a photographer from Washington D.C whose work tackles very sensitive material, which could be considered to be bordering the lines of taboo.

The book, ‘The ballad of sexual dependency’, hit home due to the fact that most of the subjects she portrayed in the photographs and who she gained a personal relationship with were deceased by the end of the 1990’s through drugs or aids.

Her work focuses on the intimate moments of life between various couples, none of which are the stereotypically perfect or conventional partners. Homosexuals and transexuals dominate the pages of her book showing us the viewer a more in depth understanding to the ideas and associations which everyone thought of, which at the time was considered normal.

 This work is from the book Goldin, N, (2003) The devils playground, expresses the delicate manner in which Goldin captures her subjects, she usually  relies on available light, to capture the emotion and atmosphere in its most truthful.

The imagery shows a gay couple, one whose body has been ravaged and destroyed by HIV/AIDS. his condition is expressed through a shadow of his former self so visible by the over sized t-shirt. Dying moments captured on a camera which speak in volumes, intimacy of Goldin work is what instantly draws you in and demands attention from the viewer, I have struggled to compare this level of intimate moments to any other photographers/artist  body of work.