Nan Goldin’s famous slideshow at MoMA
Ryan in the tub, Provincetown, Mass. 1976
Growing up, everyone has that hip friend. You know the one I’m talking about. The worldly girl who sneaks you your first cigarette one afternoon in the bathroom next to the cafeteria. The guy who has his own car while you still depend on your mom to pick you up from the movies. The kid who has the coolest clothes and has seen the most obscure movies and listens to bands you have never even heard of.
My hip friend made me brilliant punk rock mix tapes and introduced me to the work of photographers Larry Clark and Nan Goldin. Theirs are photographs filled with sex and drugs and guns, whiskey, fights, and nudity, and an indescribable yet palpable sense of affection for the people on the other side of the lens. They are a candid look at a world most of us will never see. Looking at these photographs, I never wanted to be friends with these people, but nevertheless I found myself unable to judge them.
Tags:
photography
museums
MoMA
March 15, 2009 at 8:44pm
