Photo:Nan Goldin-The Ballad of Sexual Dependency

Nan Goldin, The Parents’ Wedding Photo-Swampscott-Massachusetts, 1985, The Museum of Modern Art-New York, Acquired through the generosity of Richard O. Rieger, © 2016 Nan GoldinNan Goldin’s “The Ballad of Sexual Dependency” is a visual diary chronicling the struggle for intimacy and understanding between friends, family, and lovers—collectively described by the artist as her “tribe”. Her work describes a world that is visceral, charged, and seething with life. Her lush color photography and candid style demand that the viewer go beyond the surface to encounter a profound intensity.

By Dimitris Lempesis
Photo: MoMA Archive

Comprising almost 700 snapshot-like portraits sequenced against an evocative music soundtrack, Nan Goldin’s “The Ballad of Sexual Dependency” is a deeply personal narrative, formed out of the artist’s own experiences around Boston, New York, Berlin, and elsewhere in the late ‘70s and ‘80s. Titled after a song in Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill’s “The Threepenny Opera”, Goldin’s Ballad is itself a kind of downtown opera, its protagonists, including the artist herself, are captured in intimate moments of love and loss. They experience ecstasy and pain through sex and drug use; they revel at dance clubs and bond with their children at home; and they suffer from domestic violence and the ravages of AIDS. Goldin wrote. “Real memory, which these pictures trigger, is an invocation of the color, smell, sound, and physical presence, the density and flavor of life… The diary is my form of control over my life. It allows me to obsessively record every detail. It enables me to remember”.  At the heart of the story is the photographer, who points the camera at herself from the same unflinching vantage: “The photo of me battered is the central image of the Ballad” she writes. Goldin had been badly beaten by a lover, abuse ,that necessitated major surgery. That photograph is the hinge of the slideshow, it is also a visual echo of the loss of her sister, who killed herself when she was 18 and Goldin was 11. Shortly after, Goldin was seduced by an older man, and it’s that tension between pain, loss, and desire that propels her work. Terrified she too would die young, Goldin left home before the age of 15, eventually she moved to Provincetown, Massachusetts, where she became close to the drag queen scene; and to Boston, where she studied with photographer Henry Horenstein, who turned her on to the work of Larry Clark, and to New York City, where the work would take real shape. “The Ballad of Sexual Dependency” developed through multiple improvised live performances, for which Goldin ran through the slides by hand and friends helped prepare the soundtrack (from Maria Callas, the Velvet Underground, Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, James Brown, and Yoko Ono) , for an audience not unlike the subjects of the pictures. The Ballad is presented in its original 35mm format, along with photographs from the MoMA’s collection that also appear as images in the slide show. Introducing the installation is a selection of materials from the artist’s archive, including posters and flyers announcing early iterations of The Ballad.

Info: Curators: Klaus Biesenbach, Rajendra Roy, and Lucy Gallun, The Museum of Modern Art, 11 West 53rd Street, New York, Duration: 11/6/16-12/2/17, Days & Hours: Mon-Thu & Sat-Sun 10:30-17:30, Fri 10:30-20:00, www.moma.org

Nan Goldin, Trixie on the Cot-New York City, The Museum of Modern Art-New York, Acquired through the generosity of Marian and James H. Cohen in memory of their son Michael Harrison Cohen, © 2016 Nan Goldin
Nan Goldin, Trixie on the Cot-New York City, The Museum of Modern Art-New York, Acquired through the generosity of Marian and James H. Cohen in memory of their son Michael Harrison Cohen, © 2016 Nan Goldin

 

 

Nan Goldin, Buzz and Nan at the Afterhours-New York City, 1980, The Museum of Modern Art-New York, Purchase, © 2016 Nan Goldin
Nan Goldin, Buzz and Nan at the Afterhours-New York City, 1980, The Museum of Modern Art-New York, Purchase, © 2016 Nan Goldin

 

 

Nan Goldin, Nan and Dickie in the York Motel-New Jersey, 1980, The Museum of Modern Art-New York, Purchase, © 2016 Nan Goldin
Nan Goldin, Nan and Dickie in the York Motel-New Jersey, 1980, The Museum of Modern Art-New York, Purchase, © 2016 Nan Goldin

 

 

Nan Goldin, Nan on Brian’s Lap Nan’s Birthday-New York City, 1981, The Museum of Modern Art-New York, Purchase, © 2016 Nan Goldin
Nan Goldin, Nan on Brian’s Lap Nan’s Birthday-New York City, 1981, The Museum of Modern Art-New York, Purchase, © 2016 Nan Goldin

 

 

Nan Goldin, Philippe H. and Suzanne Kissing at Euthanasia-New York City, 1981, The Museum of Modern Art-New York, Purchase, © 2016 Nan Goldin
Nan Goldin, Philippe H. and Suzanne Kissing at Euthanasia-New York City, 1981, The Museum of Modern Art-New York, Purchase, © 2016 Nan Goldin

 

 

Nan Goldin, Rise and Monty Kissing-New York City, 1980, The Museum of Modern Art-New York, Purchase, © 2016 Nan Goldin
Nan Goldin, Rise and Monty Kissing-New York City, 1980, The Museum of Modern Art-New York, Purchase, © 2016 Nan Goldin

 

 

Nan Goldin, Nan and Brian in Bed-New York City, 1983, The Museum of Modern Art-New York, Acquired through the generosity of Jon L. Stryker, © 2016 Nan Goldin
Nan Goldin, Nan and Brian in Bed-New York City, 1983, The Museum of Modern Art-New York, Acquired through the generosity of Jon L. Stryker, © 2016 Nan Goldin