Wendy Zhang

Art 4900

I think the exhibition of Nan Goldin The Ballad of Sexual Dependency is very interesting. It basically is a slideshow of Nan Goldin’s photographs, which contain a lot of sex, drugs and love. In my opinion, she expressed the emotions very well, not only in each individual photo but also as a whole composition.

I took a very quick look of the photographs that displayed outside and headed right into the theater to watch the whole documentation. I think it is very remarkable that she separated the photos by gender, sexual preferences, age and also the stories happened behind the photos.

The most impressive part to me is the beginning, the section of girls looking into mirror, staying rooms alone, and enjoying the bath time. I felt connected as a girl who has been through this stage of my life, feeling lost and confused during the high school period, finding out the beauty of my body as a grown up girl, and also wondering about the love. I was extremely attracted by the bodies of the young ladies in Nan Goldin’s pictures, such as the brightening skins and also the prefect curves shape. It’s the natural beauty that no one could take away but time, and Nan Goldin recorded them forever in the photos.

On the other hand, I think different people looking into the same photo would have variety understanding of the stories. Some stories are very well told by looking at the first sight. For example, I remember of one photo that a couples are siting at somewhere like a bar since the background is very dark. They are smiling to the camera but the audiences can clearly see the reflection of the tears insides the girls eye also a little bit in the boys. I started to wondering maybe they are talking about future, or being separate from each other, or could be they just made peace from the fight. Freezing the stories into one simple picture, I think that is how Nan Goldin made the whole The Ballad of Sexual Dependency fascinating.