Nan Goldin.
One month After
Being Battered
Nan Goldin is an American artist who
was born in 1953. She has been taking photos since she was a teenager in
Boston. Her earliest work was done in black and white and consisted of drag
queens because she believed and was a part of their culture. Later she attended
School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston she
started producing slide shows and they acquired the title The Ballad Of Sexual
Dependency. This is a picture I found by Nan Goldin and have previously
researched called ‘One Month After Being Battered’ 1984.
I find this image so fascinating and
it caught my eye straight away. There are so many different emotions in this
piece and they are projected so well. Her general facial expression gives the
feeling of slight discomfort. As if she is thinking of the dramatic time that
had happened. How ever she doesn’t look distraught, she still has a strong face
on as if she is saying “I don’t care I’ll get through this.” How ever that’s
what I get from the left side of her face because of the little damage to her
eye in comparison to the right. Her right eye does look hurt and unhappy, you
can see the pain and it slightly looks like it’s watering. The injury is also
so intense that there is no way you can deny she is upset and hurt by this
event.
Another way I would say she is
trying to give of the impression that she doesn’t care about people looking at
her is because of the way she is dressed and what she’s wearing. She isn’t
wearing pajamas and a hoodie as if she’s hiding away in her house, if you take
away the injuries then I would think she was getting ready for a night out or
on her way to a special event. Her hair is professionally done has she has make
up and nice jewelry on and I find it interesting how her lipstick is the same
colour red as the injury in her eye. I find that they compliment each other as
if she was wearing red shoes and a red bag with the black dress.
Whilst researching this photo I
realized how much of an impact this image has had. There are several artists
who have done the same photograph as Goldin.
This is an image I found by a woman
called Bridge Lucey. This image is called “If I Was An Artist I Would Be Nan
Goldin”. She has do not exactly the same thing as Goldin in this image however
she has added a modern twist to it. Godin’s image was taken in the 80’s so she
has the big perm and the pearl necklace and it all ties to that era. Lucey's
image was taken in 2010 so she has the short, choppy hair, which shows a sign
of rebellion, and she also has a middle lip piercing which also shows this. She
still has the red lipstick but because her eyes aren’t that red I find the lip
piercing compliments it also.
Over all I love both photographs
because of their brutality and very strong message. Goldin must have had a lot
of courage to take dress up, take that photo and release it to the public. She
is an amazing photographer and I hope to look more into her work in the future.
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