Review
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"Ballad of Sexual Dependency" is at once a diary and a soap opera, an unerring portrait of a particular East Village
bohemia and a sexual taxonomy for the '80s. "The Village Voice"
Nan Goldin's "Ballad of Sexual Dependency" is a beggar's opera of recent times. Here were real thieves and unexpected
heroes, and a sense that some things in life might still be worth a brawl. " Artforum"
What Robert Frank's "The Americans" was to the 1950s, Nan Goldin's "The Ballad of Sexual Dependency" is to the 1980s
Goldin has created an artistic masterwork that tells us not only about the attitudes of her generation, but also about
the times in which we live. Andy Grundberg, "The New York Times"
Seen through her lens, the characters in her drama seem to become fully and inevitably themselves, with their
personalities and physical appearance integrally linked. "The New York Times"
In part a love poem to the bohemian life style of young people in New York City, it is also a melancholy meditation on
the joys and terrors of romantic relationships, both straight and gay. "The New York Times"
It is no exaggeration to describe Nan Goldin's monumental slide show, "The Ballad of Sexual Dependency," as one of the
most important photographic works of recent years. "The New York Times"
The photographs are taken with cunning ease, so they seem to question the very possibility of separating a person s
perceptual image from immediate presentation. Their casual quickness pretends to establish a measure of genuineness of
that person. "Hyperic"
Today, 30 years later, "The Ballad of Sexual Dependency" is recognized as a seminal, groundbreaking work of documentary
photography, highly regarded for its rawness and honesty. "Hyperic"
For every , every tear, every dance party or game of Monopoly or heroin needle, there is a memory and there is a
photo that corresponds unapologetically. "Hyperic" "
Ballad of Sexual Dependency is at once a diary and a soap opera, an unerring portrait of a particular East Village
bohemia and a sexual taxonomy for the '80s. The Village Voice
Nan Goldin's Ballad of Sexual Dependency is a beggar's opera of recent times. Here were real thieves and unexpected
heroes, and a sense that some things in life might still be worth a brawl. Artforum
What Robert Frank's The Americans was to the 1950s, Nan Goldin's The Ballad of Sexual Dependency is to the 1980s Goldin
has created an artistic masterwork that tells us not only about the attitudes of her generation, but also about the
times in which we live. Andy Grundberg, The New York Times
Seen through her lens, the characters in her drama seem to become fully and inevitably themselves, with their
personalities and physical appearance integrally linked. The New York Times
In part a love poem to the bohemian life style of young people in New York City, it is also a melancholy meditation on
the joys and terrors of romantic relationships, both straight and gay. The New York Times
It is no exaggeration to describe Nan Goldin's monumental slide show, The Ballad of Sexual Dependency, as one of the
most important photographic works of recent years. The New York Times"
About the Author
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Nan Goldin began photographing at the age of fifteen. She received a BFA from the School of the Museum of
Fine Arts, Boston, in 1977. In 1978 she moved to New York, where she continued to document her extended family. These
photographs, along with those taken in London, Berlin, and Provincetown, Massachusetts, became the subject of her slide
shows and first book, The Ballad of Sexual Dependency (1986). Goldin s other books include The Other Side (1993), Ten
Years After (1997), and The Beautiful Smile (2008). In 1985 her work was included in the Whitney Museum of American Art
s biennial. A decade later, in 1996, a major retrospective of her work opened at the Whitney, and toured to museums
throughout Europe. That same year a documentary about her life and work, I ll Be Your Mirror, made in collaboration with
Edmund Coulthard, was awarded a Teddy Award for Best Essay at the Berlin Film Festival. In 2001 a second retrospective
of her work, Le Feu Follet, was held at the Centre Pompidou, Paris, and toured internationally as The Devil s
Playground. In 2006, Goldin was awarded the Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres by the French government. And, in 2007,
she received the Hasselblad Award in Photography. Goldin s most recent slide show, Scopophilia, was commissioned by the
Louvre and shown there in 2010. Goldin lives in Berlin, Paris, and New York.