{"data":{"id":"3720","type":"artist","attributes":{"id":3720,"topgoose_id":2042,"tms_id":3720,"display_name":"Nan Goldin","sort_name":"Goldin Nan","display_date":"1953–","begin_date":"1953","end_date":"0","biography":"\u003cp\u003eIn the late 1970s photographer Nan Goldin\nbegan to document her life, recording friends,\nlovers, relatives, and herself. The resulting\ncolor snapshots capture moments of\ntenderness, pleasure, and intimacy, but these\nworks also chronicle the harsh effects of\ndrug use, squalid living conditions, and the\nphysical traces of abuse. Unlike documentary\nphotographers, who observe communities\nfrom an outsider’s position, Goldin is\ndeeply entwined with her subjects: “This is\nmy party,” she has explained. “This is my\nfamily, my history.”\n\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eGoldin first presented the\naccumulating photographs as live slide-\nshow performances in downtown New York\nbars, clubs, and alternative art spaces.\nLoading her slides into the projector\ncarousel, she conflated public with private\nby displaying what she called “the diary\nI let people read.” In 1981 she named the\nstill-evolving project \u003ca href=\"/collection/works/8274\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Ballad of Sexual\nDependency\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/a\u003e (after the song from Kurt\nWeill and Bertolt Brecht’s \u003cem\u003eThreepenny\nOpera\u003c/em\u003e) and arranged the slides into loose\ncategorical groupings—women looking\ninto mirrors, people at clubs, empty interiors.\nShe timed the progression to a soundtrack\nof pop songs, reggae music, blues, and\noperatic arias, each underscoring various\nemotional states that emerge as the\nnarrative opens up to issues of gender,\nsexuality, and love. Goldin completed the\n\u003cem\u003eBallad \u003c/em\u003ein the mid-1990s, explaining\nthat “stories can be rewritten, memory\ncan’t. If each picture is a story, then\nthe accumulation of these pictures comes\ncloser to the experience of memory,\na story without end.” A deeply personal\nwork, Goldin’s \u003cem\u003eBallad\u003c/em\u003e nonetheless strikes a\nuniversal chord as it demonstrates the\nhuman need for connection.\u003c/p\u003e","on_view":false,"artport":false,"biennial":true,"collection":true,"ulan_id":"500105338","wikidata_id":"Q234279","created_at":"2017-08-30T16:58:14.000-04:00","updated_at":"2026-03-29T07:03:36.726-04:00","links":{"artworks":"/api/artists/3720/artworks","exhibitions":"/api/artists/3720/exhibitions"}}}}