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Pride Month II



Today, for Pride Month, I'm putting a spotlight on Nan Goldin, a photographer who has changed the world.

Goldin grew up within a mendacious family--possibly no more mendacious than your average family--and yet Goldin decided that she herself would attempt a life without bullshit. No lies. In her teens, she picked up a camera and began taking photos, and she was good at it. Suddenly, she had a career.

Goldin has many gay friends, and during the early days of AIDS, she took photos of various difficult stories she was living through. You can see one here: "Cookie at Vittorio's Casket, 1989." There is a sense of fearlessness; you can detect the strength and intelligence of the artist, even though she is actually not in the image.

Possibly Goldin's most famous image is a self-portrait, "Nan, One Month after Being Battered" (also included here).

When the opioid crisis became overwhelming, Goldin recalled her AIDS activist friends, and she herself became an activist. She began staging protests and die-ins. She and friends littered a section of the Met with countless orange pill bottles. Goldin also gathered people to toss billions of small prescription slips into the air at the Guggenheim--an image captured in newspapers.

Goldin's work has had a major role in exposing the Sackler family, and for that we can all be grateful.

Many thanks to Goldin for her inspiring work.
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