Member-only story
“All the Beauty and the Bloodshed” — Nan Goldin’s Quest for Accountability
Last night, when I should have been sleeping, I instead began watching (and became riveted to) this fascinatinating documentary on HBO.
I was aware of and knew of the work of photographer Nan Goldin, but I had little insight into her personal background life and “how” she became “who” she is. It’s a gripping tale of a female seeking to find her own voice.
This is something that very much resonates with me for many reasons.
Nan Goldin became addicted to Oxycontin after having surgery on her wrist. As an artist, she was all too aware of the many gifts and donations from the Sackler family (demons from hell, let’s be honest) to various museums in the US and around the world (Met, Guggenheim, Tate).
Like most of us, she became outraged that the Sackler family has never really been held accountable for the horrendous amount of damage their unmitigated greed has caused numerous people and families. She (and her friends) were determined to do something about it and to force a reckoning both for the Sackler family and to also force the museums to remove the many wings that were named for the…
