Nan Goldin began photographing at the age of fifteen. She received a BFA from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, in 1977. In 1978, she moved to New York, where she continued to document her “extended family.” These photographs became the subject of her slide shows and first and most notable book, "The Ballad of Sexual Dependency," which documents the post-Stonewall gay subculture and Goldin's family and friends.

In December 2021, the 21st printing of The Ballad was released, which includes a new afterword by Nan, the first in 10 years. In 1985, her work was included in the Whitney Biennial. In 1996, a major retrospective of her work opened at the Whitney and toured to museums throughout Europe. Goldin has received numerous awards, including the Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres in France, the Hasselblad Award and the Edward MacDowell Medal. Her work has been shown recently at the Tate Modern, London; Louvre Museum, France; Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin; Museum of Modern Art, New York; and Nederlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam, Netherlands. She was also named one of Time's 100 Most Influential people in 2022.

In 2017, Goldin formed the activist group P.A.I.N. (Prescription Addiction Intervention Now), which stages protests aimed at US pharmaceutical drug companies. She is also a strong proponent of harm reduction in addicted communities.

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