Nan Goldin

Nan Goldin was born in Washington in 1953 but grew up in Boston, where she attended the School of the Museum of Fine Arts. She has lived in New York since 1978, where she has established herself as one of the leading figures advocating for a complete identification between art and life. From the age of eighteen, she has used photography as a "public diary"; for this reason, Nan Goldin's work is inseparable from her life. Marked by the suicide of her eighteen-year-old sister, Barbara Holly, on April 12, 1965, it was through photographing her family that she began her photographic work.

Nan Goldin observes the transgressive and hidden aspects of urban life with an intimate and personal approach. Private memories become works of art only after the decision to exhibit them. She portrays friends and acquaintances, but also herself.

Her style has become an icon of her challenging generation and took an additional turn after the spread of AIDS, which questioned her faith in the power of images, making it clear to her that they only depicted those she had lost. Goldin views the photographs documenting the daily lives of her HIV-positive friends as carrying social and political significance, and as an activist with Act Up, she organized the first major exhibition on AIDS in New York in 1989.

The Giuseppe Iannaccone Collection includes a vast array of her photographs: Jimmy Paulette and Taboo! In the Bathroom is a large color photograph of two drag queens, known by the names Jimmy Paulette and Taboo, taken in a New York apartment. Jimmy Paulette stands and looks directly into Goldin's camera while Taboo is seen from behind, bareback with a striking necklace around her neck. Jimmy's masculine body starkly contrasts with her dramatically made-up face, especially around the eyes. Both Jimmy Paulette and Taboo bear small traces of their disguises. This photograph captures a moment of intimacy.

Another emblematic work is Trixie on the Cot, where the artist depicts Ivy, a transgender individual prior to surgery, perfectly embodying the gender ambiguity that Goldin finds liberating and inspirational for her works.

The collection also includes Greer and Robert on the Bed, Naomi with her Sister, Honey, the Other Side, and Marlene in Show Girl Costume, the latter being a black-and-white photograph accidentally taken by the artist.

Nan Goldin's extreme freedom of expression, along with her immense courage, makes her one of the pioneers of countercultural photography in her era.