Nan Goldin: I'll Be Your Mirror

by Elisabeth Sussman, Nan Goldin, David Armstrong

Based on an exhibition of the same title at the Whitney Museum of American Art this collection of more than 300 pictures documents the alternative culture of Nan Goldin's friends and acquaintances in the arty bohemian substrata of Manhattan. Goldin turns her camera outward to record transvestites carousing in downtown clubs and the social impact of AIDS and drugs; and inward to look with unblinking intimacy at her friends, her lovers of both sexes, and herself. She records her boyfriend masturbating. She shows him on the toilet. She shows her own battered face in a mirror after he beats her up. She traces the decline and death of her friend Cookie Mueller. Goldin has created a stark record of her urban demi-monde.

Genres: Photography, Art, Academic

491 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1996

Reviews

[Frankie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was on the bookshelf at my apartment stay. What a treat! Enjoyed the essays as well.

[Lillian · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book in 12th grade and it changed my perception of what photography could be. This woman's art is brutally honest and full of joy, pain and everything else. Nan Goldin is a hero.

[Glenn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nan Goldin did what every teen and 20-something does now: took pictures of her friends indulging in sex and drugs and being creative as they explored the formative decade of their life. Only she did it with a 35mm film camera in the 70s and 80s instead of an iPhone in the 21st century. The resulting photographs are an unflinching look at the New York art scene as it was ravaged by needles, HIV, and violence and bloomed with exciting music, film, and people. In addition to hundreds of Goldin's photos you get a dozen essays and interviews about her and her work and the beautiful horror of the time during which much of it happened. I had never thought about the profound effect ATMs had on the drug scene--suddenly you could empty your account in increments over one long night instead of having to wait out the 10 AM bank opening. Major bonus points for David Wojnarowicz's hand grenade of an AIDS essay, "Postcards from America: X-Rays from Hell" which comes near the end.

[Aprill Medrano · Rating 5 out of 5]

A captivating story of Nan Goldin’s photographs. I’m really drawn to cookie Mueller and Sharon photographs. Some of these photos are vulgar and sexual, yet They showcase the vulnerability of her friends and the dependency to be intimate with another person. . The fact that she continues to tell a story of her friends so that they can always live on is beautiful. The emotional photograph for me is when she shows them living and then when they died. The photographs are a diary of her life, and introspection to who she was in the past and who she is now.

[Yvonne]

Rediscovering Nan Goldin after I saw her photographs of 'Cookie' at the "American Photography" exhibition at the Rijkmuseum in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. In Vienna I saw a few of her photographs on the devastation of AIDS. Those pictures deeply moved my mom.
I must say, in her photography there is this under current of loneliness and hopelessness. Sometimes it is pretty hard to look at. It feels like being human is not a desirable situation to be in...

[Mills College Library]

779.2092 G619s 1996

[Wiktoria S · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wat een prachtig boek. Heel interessante essays, en zo veel foto's. Ik begrijp Goldin's fotografie nu veel beter, en apprecieer het nog meer dan ervoor.

[anika calcei · Rating 5 out of 5]

simply put, this retrospective is everything to me. taking in the work in a book layout was different, but I found so much value in the excerpts woven throughout.

[Víctor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nan's pictures and Cookie's writings seem they were made for each other. I can't help but love those endearing coincidences, the wonderful conjunction of these two women's art. Cookie, you're missed.

[Ted · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think I have the hardcover edition