Nan Goldin’s Ballad of Sexual Dependency presented as 126 framed prints

Nan Goldin’s The Ballad of Sexual Dependency is on display in a gallery presentation of 126 framed photographic prints, stacked four high and covering three black walls. The Ballad is a compilation of photographs taken between 1973 and 1986 that Goldin has presented since the 1980s as an ever‑changing slideshow, and also as video, film and book.

The slideshow originally presented up to 800 images over 45 minutes with a shifting soundtrack that often included Maria Callas, Petula Clark, Dionne Warwick and Dean Martin; Goldin has said she thinks of the slideshow as a movie made with stills. The images collected here range from intimate domestic moments to violent and bruising scenes: Robin smoking with Kenny in the purple room; Suzanne in tears and studying her reflection; picnics, beach days and a man sitting on the edge of a bed while Goldin photographs him from a tripod; Nan and Brian photographing themselves having sex, and, a year later, Brian beating her very badly.

Other shots include Goldin’s parents, an old Mexican couple, skinheads, Bobby masturbating, a man dressed as Napoleon, someone called French Chris on a convertible, an empty bed in a brothel, wedding photos and a cluster showing Goldin’s black eye, an ectopic pregnancy scar and a heart‑shaped bruise, ending with a pair of skeletons in an intimate embrace.

The reviewer finds the array cumulative and electrifying, with images that keep the viewer on a brink between tenderness and pain.

Key Topics

Culture, Nan Goldin, The Ballad, Gagosian Gallery, London, Nikon