Misty and Joey at Hornstrasse
Photograph
1992 (made)
1992 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
'I don't select people in order to photograph them, I photograph directly from my life. These pictures come out of relationships, not observation'. Nan Goldin, The Other Side, Cornerhouse 1993
Nan Goldin began taking photographs in her late teens, creating a visual diary of her life and the lives of her friends. Personal relationships is a running theme in most of Goldin’s work from the past twenty years and many of her published photographs focus on sexual identity. The relationship between the photographer and subject is clear in her photographs; she neither glamorises nor exploits them. Rather, she captures them undertaking ordinary, everday acts, both private and social.
Goldin’s earliest photographs were taken whilst she was still a student in Boston. She photographed a group of drag queens who grew to become some of her closest friends. Over twenty years later in New York, Goldin revisited the subject and began documenting the lives of a group of transvestites, but this time in colour. This snapshot of drag queen Misty, reveals Goldin’s signature style and informal approach to photography.
Nan Goldin began taking photographs in her late teens, creating a visual diary of her life and the lives of her friends. Personal relationships is a running theme in most of Goldin’s work from the past twenty years and many of her published photographs focus on sexual identity. The relationship between the photographer and subject is clear in her photographs; she neither glamorises nor exploits them. Rather, she captures them undertaking ordinary, everday acts, both private and social.
Goldin’s earliest photographs were taken whilst she was still a student in Boston. She photographed a group of drag queens who grew to become some of her closest friends. Over twenty years later in New York, Goldin revisited the subject and began documenting the lives of a group of transvestites, but this time in colour. This snapshot of drag queen Misty, reveals Goldin’s signature style and informal approach to photography.
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Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Title | Misty and Joey at Hornstrasse (assigned by artist) |
| Materials and techniques | Dye destruction print on photographic paper |
| Brief description | Photograph by Nan Goldin, 'Misty and Joey at Hornstrasse', dye destruction print, printed 1992, published 1996 |
| Physical description | A colour photograph depicting the drag queen Misty (Miss Demeanor) and Joey at Hornstrasse, Berlin. Misty, who is visible in the foreground, is wearing a cropped blue wig and black dress. Joey is standing in the doorway and wearing a long blonde wig. |
| Dimensions |
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| Styles | |
| Marks and inscriptions | Signed in black ink on the back 'Nan Goldin'. Inscribed in black ink on the back with title and '6/44' |
| Credit line | Copyright Nan Goldin, courtesy Matthew Marks Gallery |
| Object history | Goldin’s visual style is known as diaristic or autobiographical photography. It has an intimate, casual, snapshot aesthetic which Goldin uses as a social leveller; challenging the traditional relationship between artist and ‘subject’. Her work often depicts an uncompromising approach to photographing real life experiences including drug use, sex, violence and death. This photograph is from Goldin’s long term series, ‘The Ballard of Sexual Dependency’, a title taken from a song in Bertolt Brecht's Threepenny Opera. It began in the late 1970s and was originally conceived in the early 1980s as a 45-minute slide show accompanied by a rock soundtrack. It has evolved over the years to include over 700 photographs, which capture the intimate, everyday lives of Goldin’s “tribe”. Goldin has described the Ballad as the product of remembrance; a way for her to recall her friendships with those now lost to drug addiction and the HIV epidemic. |
| Subjects depicted | |
| Associations | |
| Summary | 'I don't select people in order to photograph them, I photograph directly from my life. These pictures come out of relationships, not observation'. Nan Goldin, The Other Side, Cornerhouse 1993 Nan Goldin began taking photographs in her late teens, creating a visual diary of her life and the lives of her friends. Personal relationships is a running theme in most of Goldin’s work from the past twenty years and many of her published photographs focus on sexual identity. The relationship between the photographer and subject is clear in her photographs; she neither glamorises nor exploits them. Rather, she captures them undertaking ordinary, everday acts, both private and social. Goldin’s earliest photographs were taken whilst she was still a student in Boston. She photographed a group of drag queens who grew to become some of her closest friends. Over twenty years later in New York, Goldin revisited the subject and began documenting the lives of a group of transvestites, but this time in colour. This snapshot of drag queen Misty, reveals Goldin’s signature style and informal approach to photography. |
| Bibliographic reference | Victoria and Albert Museum Department of Prints, Drawings and Paintings Accession Register for 1997 |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | E.53-1997 |
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| Record created | July 25, 2003 |
| Record URL |
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