Nan Goldin (Biography)

Nan Goldin is a contemporary art photographer. She is an example of an artist who works at the most intimate level: her life is her work and her work, her life. She began taking pictures of her friends in the early 1970s, it was not only the early 1990s that her work gained international acclaim and a strong image in the art market. She was the youngest of four children born on 1953. When she was 11 her 18 years old sister committed suicide. That incident had a really bad effect on her. An upcoming installation in her new hometown of Paris is supposed to be about her sister’s death and mental illness. The obsessive need to record memories and her particular interest in women’s sexuality are also symptoms instigated by her sister’s death. After being kicked out of school and running away from home she ended up in a commune with the age of 14. Through a friend she discovered photography as a tool of communication and started to explore Boston’s gay scene. Another turning point in Nan Goldin’s life was at 18 when she started to photograph what she calls the third gender. Her photography become more sophisticated with her series on drag queens - parallel to that she also started to use Heroin. The photographs, and in particular her self-portraits, are proof to very rough periods in her life full of drugs and violence but also love and compassion.

One of the reasons i was so drawn to Goldin's work was her unique style of capturing the moments of one's life. I also love the originality and her creativity. Overall, her photographs are simple and very effective.

References:-

http://www.brain-juice.com/cgi-bin/show_bio.cgi?p_id=88

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nan_Goldin

Book:- The Photograph As Contemporary Art (By Charlotte Cotton)