Biography
- American Photographer
- Born September 12, 1953(age 61)
- First introduced to photography at the age of fifteen.
- Nan cared more for honest photography rather than just ‘good’ photography
- After publishing her The Ballad of Sexual Dependency, Nan fell deep into drug abuse
- After recovery, photography became her main way of self expression
Exhibits from The Other Side
An exhibit inspired by its namesake which was then Boston’s most popular drag bar.
Misty and Jimmy Paulette in a taxi, NYC
1972- 74 and The Other Side, a slide installation
Purpose
In her words:
“People in the pictures say my camera is as much part of being with me as any other aspect of knowing me. It’s as if my hand were a camera. The camera is as much a part of my everyday life as talking or eating or sex. The instant of photographing, instead of creating distance, is a moment of clarity and emotional connection for me.”
“I wanted it,” she explains, “to be about every man and every relationship and the potential of violence in every relationship.”
Interpretation and research on her famous work
Nan Goldin, Nan One Month After Being Battered, 1984
Juxtaposition(Two things with contrasting effect)
Intense red blood in the white of her swollen left eye mirrors the shade of her lipstick. Dark bruises colour the skin around it and below her right eye. In contrast to the physical damage she defiantly offers to the camera, she appears well groomed. Her hair is glossy and well brushed and, in addition to the bright red lipstick, she is wearing dangly earrings and a necklace. She has photographed herself against a piece of dark wooden furniture and a white embroidered curtain that appears bluish in the artificial night-time light. The dark shadows behind her head indicate the use of a flash bulb.
Reference
http://www.biography.com/people/nan-goldin-40567
http://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2011/04/21/nan-goldin/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nan_Goldin
http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/goldin-nan-one-month-after-being-battered-p78045/text-summary
Research conducted by
Grace
Stuart
Hui Shan