And so should you. Nan Goldin is one of the most compelling photographers. Ever. There I said it. She revolutionized not only how we viewed photography but also subjectivity, art, the margins, sex, sexuality…. Nan Godin, along with Cindy Sherman, changed photography, and me, forever.
Goldin began her photography career by documenting the post-punk new-wave music scene in New York City, along with the city’s vibrant, post-Stonewall gay subculture of the late 1970s and early 1980s. Not on purpose but because she was immersed in the scene herself; she was the subject and the photographer. She was drawn especially to the Bowery’s hard-drug subculture; these photographs, taken between 1979 and 1986, form her famous work The Ballad of Sexual Dependency. These snapshot aesthetic images depict drug use, violent, aggressive couples and autobiographical moments. Her work changed culture and still influences photographers and artists to this day. If you don’t believe me, look no further than Corrine Day, Juergen Teller, Mario Sorrentti and every CK ad from the 90s.
All this to preface the fact that there is a new documentary film that debuted at Art Basel Miami, I Remember Your Face, a film by Sabine Lidl, is all about Nan Goldin. The film follows Nan, now in her sixties, to Berlin and Paris as she talks through her career and bumps into old friends. This is a must see for anyone in art or fashion or design.