Nan Goldin and Diane Arbus both photographed marginalized communities, but Goldin's work showed more empathy and respect. While Arbus portrayed her subjects as "deviants" and "freaks", Goldin captured the humanity in people by documenting her friends' everyday lives. Goldin also challenged Arbus' view of transgender people as their identified gender, believing they represented their own "species". Goldin's intimate photographs were a way to preserve memories and understand loved ones, as well as an honest diary of her life.

1. Niamh O’Leary
Nan Goldin

2. Contents
Goldin vs Arbus
- Real inspiration David Armstrong
Goldin’s desire to preserve the sense of peoples
life’s
- How that structured her practice

3. Nan Goldin, ‘Jimmy Paulette and Taboo undressing’
(1991)
Diane Arbus was most
drawn to 'deviants' and
marginalised people ( Met
Museum ) (Revesz, 2018)

4. Diane Arbus, Girl in Swimming cap (1990)
“I think that Arbus’s work is all
about herself. Her genius is about
not wanting to be herself, about
wanting instead to be each
person that she photographed.
At the time she was
photographing them, she was
really trying their skin on. It’s the
work of someone with empathy
that borders on psychosis.”- Nan
Goldin (Westfall, 1991)

5. “Unsettling photos of
freaks and eccentrics”
(Bosworth, 1984) –
Diane Arbus

6. Diane Arbus,‘A young man in curlers at
home on West 20th Street’(1996)
Nan Goldin, ‘Misty and Jimmy’ (1991)

7. “To me, the queens were not men. My work was much more
respectful to them. I’ve never thought of a drag queen as a man.
That’s really the last thing I think about when I look at them.
They weren’t women either, by the way, they were another
species.” (Girls Are Awesome, 2018)
Diane Arbus, UntitledNan Goldin,Untitled

8. • Anyone that wasn’t the same
fascinated Arbus.
• Modernist views.
• Society were intrigued and
disgraced at the same time,
over weird and wonderful
people.

9. • Arbus stripped down her subjects
and portrayed them as men.
(Girls Are Awesome, 2018)
Diane Arbus, Female impersonator holding long
gloves, Hempstead, L.I. (1959)
Screenshot taken from the Independent website
(Revesz, 2018)

10. 'David gave me my
personality. When I met
him, I was painfully shy. I
don't think I'd spoken more
than a few words in
months. He taught me to
laugh, and about laughter
as a way to survive.’ – Nan
Goldin (Garratt, 2018)
David Armstrong, From Day and night, 70s/80s

11. Nan Goldin, "Gotscho kissing Gilles," Paris (1993).
"I used to think that I could
never lose anyone if I
photographed them
enough. In fact, my
pictures show me how
much I’ve lost."
— Nan Goldin (Goldin,
2018)

12. Nan Goldin, Brians Face, West Berlin (1984)
“It’s the diary I let
people read. I keep a
written diary, but I
never allow people
to read it”- Nan
Goldin (Hutton,
2018)

13. “I want people in my
pictures to stare back”
(Goldin et al., 1986)
Nan Goldin, Mark and Mark, (1978)
Nan Goldin, Patrick and E.K. at the gallery, New York
City (1985)

14. Nan Goldin ‘’Brian and Nan in Bed, New York City’ (1983)

15. “My drawers are full
of great
photographs that I
won’t show
because the person
asked me not to” –
Nan Goldin
(McCord, 2018)
Nan Goldin, Self Portrait 1st Time on Oxy, Berlin, (2014)

16. “I often fear that men and women are
irrevocably strangers to each other,
irreconcilably unsuited, almost as if they
were from different planets. But there is
an intense need for coupling in spite of it
all. Even if relationships are destructive,
people cling together” (Goldin et al.,
1996)
Nan Goldin, Philippe H. and Suzanne Kissing at Euthanasia, New York City
(1981)

17. "Cookie Müller. I
photographed her until
she died. She died the
same day the Berlin
Wall came down. After
that, I started
photographing empty
rooms." - Nan Goldin
Cookie in Her Casket, New York City, Nov. 15, (1989)

18. “I didn’t care about
good photography, I
cared about
complete honesty”
Nan Goldin (Moca,
2018)
Nan Goldin, Buzz and Nan at the Afterhours, New York City (1980)

19. • Nan Goldin took photos of people
because she thought that, that
was the only way she could truly
tell how she felt about the people
• But this self portrait suggests
other wise
• Did she really have people figured
out ?
• Can you really know what
someone's like from a
photograph?
Nan Goldin, Nan One Month After Being Battered (1984)

20. References
• Goldin, N., Heiferman, M., Holborn, M. and Fletcher, S. (1986). The ballad of sexual dependency. 1st ed. New York, N.Y.: Aperture Foundation, pp.6-9.
• McCord, B. (2018). Your ultimate guide to Nan Goldin. [online] Dazed. Available at: http://www.dazeddigital.com/photography/article/34062/1/your-ultimate-guide-to-nan-
goldin [Accessed 1 Dec. 2018].
• Girls Are Awesome. (2018). How Nan Goldin's Portraits of the LGBTQ+ Community Defied Diane Arbus | Girls Are Awesome. [online] Available at:
https://girlsareawesome.com/arts/photography/nan-goldins-tender-portraits-lgbtq-community [Accessed 7 Dec. 2018].
• Girls Are Awesome. (2018). How Nan Goldin's Portraits of the LGBTQ+ Community Defied Diane Arbus | Girls Are Awesome. [online] Available at:
https://girlsareawesome.com/arts/photography/nan-goldins-tender-portraits-lgbtq-community [Accessed 7 Dec. 2018].
• Revesz, R. (2018). The ‘freaks’ of old New York: Diane Arbus exhibition opens at the Met. [online] The Independent. Available at: https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-
entertainment/art/the-freaks-of-old-new-york-diane-arbus-exhibition-opens-at-the-met-a7133566.html [Accessed 7 Dec. 2018].
• Bosworth, P. (1984). Diane Arbus. London, Originally New York: London : Heinemann, 1984., p.Pg ix.
• Garratt, S. (2018). Interview: Nan Goldin. [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2002/jan/06/features.magazine27 [Accessed 8 Dec.
2018].
• Armstrong, D. (2018). David Armstrong | NIGHT & DAY. [online] Davidarmstrongphotographs.com. Available at: http://davidarmstrongphotographs.com/80s-color [Accessed
9 Dec. 2018].
• Revesz, R. (2018). The ‘freaks’ of old New York: Diane Arbus exhibition opens at the Met. [online] The Independent. Available at: https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-
entertainment/art/the-freaks-of-old-new-york-diane-arbus-exhibition-opens-at-the-met-a7133566.html [Accessed 9 Dec. 2018].
• Goldin, N., Heiferman, M., Holborn, M. and Fletcher, S. (1996). The ballad of sexual dependency. New York, N.Y.: Aperture Foundation, p.Pg7.
• Westfall, S. (1991). Nan Goldin by Stephen Westfall - BOMB Magazine. [online] Bombmagazine.org. Available at: https://bombmagazine.org/articles/nan-goldin/ [Accessed 8 Dec.
2018].
• Hutton, B. (2018). A Candid Interview from 1986 with Seminal Photographer Nan Goldin. [online] AnOther. Available at: http://www.anothermag.com/art-photography/10914/a-
candid-interview-from-1986-with-seminal-photographer-nan-goldin [Accessed 8 Dec. 2018].
• Goldin, N. (2018). A quote by Nan Goldin. [online] Goodreads.com. Available at: https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/759657-i-used-to-think-that-i-could-never-lose-anyone
[Accessed 8 Dec. 2018].
• Moca (2018). Nan Goldin speaking about "The Ballad of Sexual Dependency" MOCA. [image] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=630&v=iDSvD0yhjWQ
[Accessed 3 Dec. 2018].