Nan Goldin — À propos — Slash Paris

From her early series to The Ballad of Sexual Dependency, Nan Goldin (born Washington, D.C., 1953) has created a universe in which human intimacy and vulnerability are rendered with unmatched poetic candor. Her slideshows and videos explore the light and shadow of existence, from effervescent parties to moments of despair, tracing a singular portrait of bohemian life and its margins. After studying in Boston and New York, she emerged in the 1970s with a direct, immediate, and deeply empathetic style, documenting LGBTQ+ communities, friendships, and romantic relationships with both tenderness and radical honesty.

Goldin’s practice extends beyond photography: her installations and slideshows, constantly reworked, form a dynamic visual language where still images and sound interact, revealing both collective and intimate memory. An engaged artist, she has also confronted issues of gender, mental health, and the opioid crisis, founding the direct-action group P.A.I.N. to expose the role of wealthy patrons in fueling addiction epidemics.

Her influence resonates in the work of numerous contemporary artists—from Ryan McGinley to Zanele Muholi—who continue, in their own ways, her exploration of intimacy, identity, and the representation of marginalized communities, attesting to the enduring relevance and power of her artistic legacy.