Nan Goldin’s The Ballad of Sexual Dependency Lands in London
Art — 17.01.26
Words: Moe Wang
As much as Nan Goldin’s photobook The Ballad of Sexual Dependency, 1973-86 is about the intimacy of the relationships it depicts, it is also about Goldin’s own relationship to her subjects. Through her beat-up camera lens, Goldin sought connection with the experiences unfolding within her subcultural community, among friends and lovers. As she puts it, “these pictures come out of relationships, not observation. They are an invitation to my world.”
Couple in bed, Chicago (1977). Courtesy of the artist and Gagosian.
Currently on view at the Gagosian on London’s Davies Street, The Ballad is being presented in its entirety for the first time in the UK. The exhibition spans all 126 photographs from the original volume, shot between 1973 and 1986.
Through Goldin’s gaze, moments of raw, silent tension (Couple in bed, Chicago, 1977), melancholy introspection (Cookie at Tin Pan Alley, New York City, 1983), and playful affection (Warren and Jerry Fighting, London, 1978) are rendered with striking vividness. Candid snapshots from the ‘70s and ‘80s downtown New York play out before viewers, and the pursuit of closeness feels especially resonant today. “Now they have become a record of the generation that was lost,” Goldin notes in the exhibition statement. “To show The Ballad in its entirety forty years after I published the book is to reaffirm that desire for transformation and the difficulty of connection and coupling are still true to our world.”
Cookie at Tin Pan Alley, New York City (1983). Courtesy of the artist and Gagosian.
Warren and Jerry fighting, London (1978). Courtesy of the artist and Gagosian.
Perhaps the unflinching honesty of the images stems from Goldin’s radical positioning of herself not as a distant documentarian, but as an outside, yet close, participant—present even in familiar circles. What began as a sixteen-year-old’s impulse to record her life and anchor fleeting memories has since evolved into a photographic world she constructs and invites others into. Together with her subjects, Goldin imbues new life into these images, bearing witness to the intimacy of human connection.
Dieter on the bed, Stockholm (1984). Courtesy of the artist and Gagosian.
Suzanne with Mona Lisa, Mexico City (1981). Courtesy of the artist and Gagosian.
For Goldin, the camera is thus a tool of closeness rather than distance. Within the faded, muted tones of her Nikon photographs, men and women appear together and alone—lying down, staring outward, caught in moments of quiet contemplation. As Goldin turns her lens toward her people, photographing becomes a way of tracing something personal about her. The Ballad, she says, is “the diary I let people read.”
Nan Goldin: The Ballad of Sexual Dependency is currently on view at Gagosian on Davies Street in London until March 21, 2026. Learn more at gagosian.com.