Nan Goldin

Media Kit

Friend of artist Nan Goldin sitting alone at a bar table.

Nan Goldin, Cookie at Tin Pan Alley, New York City, 1983, 1983, National Gallery of Australia, Kamberri/Canberra, purchased 2021 in celebration of the National Gallery of Australia's 40th anniversary, 2022 © Nan Goldin

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'For me it is not a detachment to take a picture. It’s a way of touching somebody—it’s a caress, I think that you can actually give people access to their own soul.’

NAN GOLDIN

The ballad of sexual dependency is a defining artwork of the 1980s. Nan Goldin’s extended photographic study of her chosen family – her ‘tribe’ – began life as a slide show screened in the clubs and bars of New York where Goldin and her friends worked and played. The slide show was then distilled to a series of 126 photographs, which has recently become part of the National Gallery’s collection.

Goldin takes photographs to connect, to keep the people she loves in her memory. She is committed to the idea that photography can faithfully record a time and place, and do so in a way that has real social purpose. Using a documentary, snapshot style, she lays bare her life in the manner of a family album. We see her alongside her friends and lovers as they live their lives – hanging out, falling in and out of love, having children. But this is a community that would be decimated by HIV/AIDS and drug-related deaths. The ballad has become as much a testament to how much Goldin and her community have lost, as it is a record of the look and feel of a past time.

Goldin refers to The ballad as her ‘public diary’, stating that her photographs ‘come out of relationships, not observation’. The work’s overriding themes, she has stated, are those of love and empathy and the tension between autonomy and interdependence in relationships—relationships in which all genders struggle to find a common language.

Curator: Anne O’Hehir, Curator, Photography

VIEWER ADVICE

The photographs in Nan Goldin’s The ballad of sexual dependency depict the everyday lives, often in intimate detail, of people in Goldin’s immediate community during the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Please be advised that works of art in this exhibition depict explicit nudity, sexual acts, drug use, and the impacts of violence against women.

Viewer discretion is advised.

This exhibition is not suitable for children under the age of 15.

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  • Installation view, Nan Goldin: the ballad of sexual dependency, National Gallery of Australia, Kamberri/Canberra, 2023. Photo by: Karlee Holland

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  • Installation view, Nan Goldin: the ballad of sexual dependency, National Gallery of Australia, Kamberri/Canberra, 2023. Photo by: Karlee Holland

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  • Installation view, Nan Goldin: the ballad of sexual dependency, National Gallery of Australia, Kamberri/Canberra, 2023. Photo by: Karlee Holland

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  • Installation view, Nan Goldin: the ballad of sexual dependency, National Gallery of Australia, Kamberri/Canberra, 2023. Photo by: Karlee Holland

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  • Installation view, Nan Goldin: the ballad of sexual dependency, National Gallery of Australia, Kamberri/Canberra, 2023. Photo by: Karlee Holland

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  • Installation view, Nan Goldin: the ballad of sexual dependency, National Gallery of Australia, Kamberri/Canberra, 2023. Photo by: Karlee Holland

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  • Installation view, Nan Goldin: the ballad of sexual dependency, National Gallery of Australia, Kamberri/Canberra, 2023. Photo by: Karlee Holland

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  • Installation view, Nan Goldin: the ballad of sexual dependency, National Gallery of Australia, Kamberri/Canberra, 2023. Photo by: Karlee Holland

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  • Installation view, Nan Goldin: the ballad of sexual dependency, National Gallery of Australia, Kamberri/Canberra, 2023. Photo by: Karlee Holland

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  • National Gallery of Australia Curator of Photography, Anne O'Hehir pictured with Nan Goldin: the ballad of sexual dependency, National Gallery of Australia Kamberri/Canberra, 2023, Photo: Karlee Holland

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  • National Gallery of Australia Curator of Photography, Anne O'Hehir pictured with Nan Goldin: the ballad of sexual dependency, National Gallery of Australia Kamberri/Canberra, 2023, Photo: Karlee Holland

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  • National Gallery of Australia Curator of Photography, Anne O'Hehir pictured with Nan Goldin: the ballad of sexual dependency, National Gallery of Australia Kamberri/Canberra, 2023, Photo: Karlee Holland

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  • Friend of artist Nan Goldin smoking a cigarette while the artist is laying in bed watching.

    Nan Goldin, Nan and Brian in bed, NYC, 1983, National Gallery of Australia, Kamberri/Canberra, purchased 1994 © Nan Goldin

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  • Friend of artist Nan Goldin tattooing a tiger on someone's lower back.

    Nan Goldin, Mark tattooing Mark, Boston, 1978 from the series The ballad of sexual dependency, 1973-86, National Gallery of Australia, Kamberri/Canberra, purchased 2021 in celebration of the National Gallery of Australia's 40th anniversary, 2022 © Nan Goldin

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  • Friends of artist Nan Goldin laying on the beach on a picnic rug.

    Nan Goldin, C.Z. and Max on the beach, Truro, Mass., 1976, 1976, National Gallery of Australia, Kamberri/Canberra, purchased 2021 in celebration of the National Gallery of Australia's 40th anniversary, 2022 © Nan Goldin

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  • Friend of artist Nan Goldin standing alone in a green dress.

    Nan Goldin, Vivienne in the green dress, New York City, 1980 from the series The ballad of sexual dependency, 1973-86, National Gallery of Australia, Kamberri/Canberra, purchased 2021 in celebration of the National Gallery of Australia's 40th anniversary, 2022 © Nan Goldin

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  • Friend of artist Nan Goldin staring into a mirror in a green tiled bathroom.

    Nan Goldin, Suzanne in the green bathroom, Pergamon Museum, East Berlin, 1984, 1984, National Gallery of Australia, Kamberri/Canberra, purchased 2021 in celebration of the National Gallery of Australia's 40th anniversary, 2022 © Nan Goldin

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  • Friend of artist Nan Goldin standing in yellow sweater with a cheeseburger phone.

    Nan Goldin, Millie with the cheeseburger radio at home, New York City, 1980 from the series The ballad of sexual dependency, 1973-86, National Gallery of Australia, Kamberri/Canberra, purchased 2021 in celebration of the National Gallery of Australia's 40th anniversary, 2022 © Nan Goldin

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  • Friend of artist Nan Goldin standing behind a bar.

    Nan Goldin, Edwidge behind the bar at Evelyne’s, New York City, 1985 from the series The ballad of sexual dependency, 1973-86, National Gallery of Australia, Kamberri/Canberra, purchased 2021 in celebration of the National Gallery of Australia's 40th anniversary, 2022 © Nan Goldin

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  • Friend of artist Nan Goldin sitting alone at a bar table.

    Nan Goldin, Cookie at Tin Pan Alley, New York City, 1983, 1983, National Gallery of Australia, Kamberri/Canberra, purchased 2021 in celebration of the National Gallery of Australia's 40th anniversary, 2022 © Nan Goldin

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  • Friends of artist Nan Goldin laying on bed topless and hugging herself.

    Nan Goldin, Greer on the bed, New York City, 1983 from the series The ballad of sexual dependency, National Gallery of Australia, Kamberri/Canberra, purchased 2021 in celebration of the National Gallery of Australia's 40th anniversary, 2022 © Nan Goldin

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  • Friends of artist Nan Goldin looking out of a window on a train whilst smoking a cigarette.

    Nan Goldin, Dieter on the train, Sweden, 1984 from the series The ballad of sexual dependency, National Gallery of Australia, Kamberri/Canberra, purchased 2021 in celebration of the National Gallery of Australia's 40th anniversary, 2022 © Nan Goldin

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  • Friend of artist Nan Goldin laying on a bed with a cigarette in his mouth while the Flintstones are running on a television.

    Nan Goldin, Brian with the Flintstones, New York City, 1981, 1981, National Gallery of Australia, Kamberri/Canberra, purchased 2021 in celebration of the National Gallery of Australia's 40th anniversary, 2022 © Nan Goldin

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  • Man with shaved head standing topless in front of a photographic portrait of himself.

    Nan Goldin, Bruce with his portrait, New York City, 1981 from the series The ballad of sexual dependency, National Gallery of Australia, Kamberri/Canberra, purchased 2021 in celebration of the National Gallery of Australia's 40th anniversary, 2022 © Nan Goldin

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  • Friends of artist Nan Goldin pictured at their wedding.

    Nan Goldin, Cookie and Vittorio's wedding, New York City, 1986, 1986, National Gallery of Australia, Kamberri/Canberra, purchased 2021 in celebration of the National Gallery of Australia's 40th anniversary, 2022 © Nan Goldin

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  • Friends of artist Nan Goldin dancing in an apartment at a birthday party.

    Nan Goldin, Twisting at my birthday party, New York City, 1980, 1980, National Gallery of Australia, Kamberri/Canberra, purchased 2021 in celebration of the National Gallery of Australia's 40th anniversary, 2022 © Nan Goldin

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  • Two people laying on top of each other at the beach.

    Nan Goldin, Bruce on top of French Chris, Fire Island, N.Y., 1979 from the series The ballad of sexual dependency, National Gallery of Australia, Kamberri/Canberra, purchased 2021 in celebration of the National Gallery of Australia's 40th anniversary, 2022 © Nan Goldin

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  • A male wearing a open shirt, laying on top of blue convertible car.

    Nan Goldin, French Chris on the convertible, New York City, 1979 from the series The ballad of sexual dependency, National Gallery of Australia, Kamberri/Canberra, purchased 2021 in celebration of the National Gallery of Australia's 40th anniversary, 2022 © Nan Goldin

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Related

Know My Name /  Video

Know My Name Conference: Nan Goldin & Jennifer Higgie
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a screen capture of two women's faces on a screen, they are talking to each other over video call.

Published 21 January 2021

American artist Nan Goldin speaks about the evolution of her practice with Jennifer Higgie, Frieze editor-at-large and Bow Down podcast presenter.

Audio Tour Auslan Interpretation Open Captioning
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New Collection

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Nan Goldin presents a sequence of 126 Cibachrome photographs by revolutionary American photographer Nan Goldin.

Essay

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The ballad of sexual dependency

Colour Cibachrome photograph of a man and a woman, with the woman's arms around his neck smiling.

Curator of Photography Anne O’Hehir probes Nan Goldin’s The ballad of sexual dependency (1986) – the defining work of Goldin’s life.

Read Time: 37 minutes
Feature

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Curator of photography ANNE O’HEHIR discusses the evolution of NAN GOLDIN’s portrait of her community, The ballad of sexual dependency.

Read Time: 20 minutes