Analysis of Nan Goldin's photography.

ANALYSIS OF NAN GOLDIN'S PHOTOGRAPHY

Henrik Sejrbo

MKT 491

Professor Schroeder

In the 21st century there are many taboos and ways which are considered outside the norm and not commonly accepted by our society. Nan Goldin, photographer, seeks to explore these ideas and to bring them to our attention in ways that can actually be thought of as offensive by some individuals. Nan Goldin lives her life in a different world than most of us where she associates with people who stray from the norm, and therefore shunned by society. To view part of her collection of photographs was a pleasure, and immediately two photographs seemed to be calling for my attention. They are in my opinion the pearls of the collection I saw at the Fine Arts Center Galleries of U.R.I.

The first photograph that caught my eye was Bruce with Bruno. This picture portrays a small boy sitting across a man's shoulders in the setting of a living room.

photographer Nan Goldin

Nan Goldin, Misty and Jimmy Paulette in a Taxi, NY...

Nan Goldin, The Hug, NYC, 1980, cibachrome, 40 x 3...

The picture was taken as a close-up of the two people and the camera angle is level with the man's eyes. The man is wearing a striped woolly winter-hat eventhough he's indoors. He has a five o'clock shadow and seems to be in the early stage of growing a beard. His nose has a slight bend to his left and his shirt has black and white stripes complementary to his hat. He's wearing an unzipped black leather jacket and his brown eyes are opened wide but are slightly skewed from looking directly at the camera. The child on his shoulders also doesn't look at the camera, but rather stares off to his right. His fingernails are dirty and his upperlip looks as if it's swollen and more red than seems normal. Neither character exhibits any emotions by means...