Guido Costa, 2006. Nan Goldin
(Phaidon 55's). 2nd Edition. Phaidon Press.
This book, written by Guido Costa
is an outline of work produced by Nan Goldin. Not only does it present photographys
throughout Goldin’s carrier, but also gives an insight into the life and
meaning of Goldin’s photography itself. The book lets the reader into the life
of Goldin, her work and her very personality. Also, the subject of her portrait
work featuring a lot of her friends and her ‘family’.
The writer, Gido Costa,
starts with an introduction into how he came to know Goldin, and how he became
a part of her work and her life, as he says “and her ‘family’, … is also mine.”
Throughout the book, the
reader is given examples of Goldin’s work featured throughout her life and
career, as well as different emotional and personal periods through Goldin’s
life in particular. You are told many intimate secrets of Goldin’s
relationships, whether be friendships or sexual relationships, and also the
intimate moments in Goldin’s friends and families lives. This gives the book a
sense of depth, and creates a sense of sympathy towards Goldin, and an atmosphere
of admiration for Goldin’s way of life and her career in photography.
For me, this book helped me
mentally connect with Goldin, and became an inspiration for work that I will
continue to create in the future. I understand the presentation of despair, happiness,
desperation and loneliness that is evident in a lot of Goldin’s work, and see
Goldin as intriguing and inspiring as a photographer.
