Blog Post #2 Nan Goldin Documentary: All The Beauty And The Bloodshed

 

Blog Post #2

10/7/2023

Ayuka Shichinohe


Nan Goldin Documentary: All The Beauty And The Bloodshed


Documentary, All The Beauty And The Bloodshed is about Nan Goldin, an American photographer and her protests against the Sackler family and their company Purdue Pharma, maker of OxyContin. Nan Goldin got addicted to the drug for years shortly after it was prescribed to her. Goldin overcame her addiction, unlike the half million Americans who have died from overdose of this drug. “Purdue Pharma’s owners, the Sackler family, have long white washed their billions by donating to art museums including those that collect Goldin’s work”.


Nan Golden led an activist group, Prescription Addiction Intervention Now (P.A.I.N.), to hold demonstrations at the Met, Guggenheim and Louvre. This action was impactful. As she mentions in the documentary, many observers started to join in on the chants and protest. After her efforts to raise awareness, museums started to reject donations from the Sackler. This was a big milestone for Nan Golden and her group. Their voices were being heard and leading to impactful decisions. 


Nan’s photography is known to be deeply personal and intimate that walks viewers through her life. It captures herself and those closest to her, especially in the LGBTQ community and the heroin-addicted subculture. “Her opus The Ballad of Sexual Dependency (1980–1986) is a 40-minute slideshow of 700 photographs set to music that chronicled her life in New York during the 1980s”. 



I thought her photography style was very jarring and impactful. Her use of slide shows and music acts almost like a film itself and brings the experience to life. It also enhances the shock and engagement because the viewer can not anticipate what the next scene will be and the viewers all get to experience it together. The music in the slideshows, often songs from that time, emerges the audience into the setting and time period. 


Nan Goldin’s story and her efforts towards the drug crisis is very eye-opening about people with money and higher power. How they, Sackler family in this case, abuse their power affecting many people to suffer while painting a heroic picture of themselves by donating to institutions. In my personal opinion, the drug industry seems to be taking advantage of people by prescribing people temporary relief without actually fixing the problem. This results in people coming back for more, more money spent, people increasing their dosage every time to have an effect and oftentimes leading to addiction and overdose. Though I know there are some medicines that are necessary and if taken responsibly, it is helpful, but these stories paint a bad picture to the industry to fear medicine and see doctors as untrustworthy. Nan Goldin is waking people up and bringing perspective to this issue and I hope people will be more conscious of their health. 



Sources used:

All The Beauty And The Bloodshed, Kanopy

https://www.belcourt.org/films/all-the-beauty-and-the-bloodshed/

https://www.artnet.com/artists/nan-goldin/



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