Nan Goldin (born 1953) is another controversial photographer. She spent the early years of her career living with and acting as club photographer for a community of drag queens in New York.
Goldin realised that what she saw on television was not reality but was, in Baudrillard’s terms, the simulacrum – an alternative false reality seen and accepted as reality by those who could not perceive or interpret its position in their lives.

Goldin wanted to make images of real life. These images therefore blur the line between portraiture and social documentary. The subjects are posing – they acknowledge the camera and interact with the viewer of the image, as in portraiture. However, Goldin’s overall intent was to throw light on her subjects’ lives; it is this
intent that would classify these portraits as social documentary.

Analyse this image in the usual way, then come back to your analysis once you’ve explored the following links to see if your view has changed.

Nan Goldin discusses her work:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Z3sihEuiEk

Nan Goldin I’ll Be Your Mirror documentary Part One (follow the links to Parts Two and Three):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUIAsWsqiyk