Photographer Nan Goldin poses after being awarded the Medal of Arts and Letters, in Paris, June 27, 2006.
Jacques Brinon/AP
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Jacques Brinon/AP
Photographer Nan Goldin poses after being awarded the Medal of Arts and Letters, in Paris, June 27, 2006.
Jacques Brinon/AP
The first few times I spoke with photographer Nan GoldinI witnessed her anger and frustration over the prescription opioid epidemic that has derailed her life and killed tens of thousands of Americans.
“I’ve never seen such an abuse of justice,” Goldin told me.
She is talking about members of the Sackler family, who own Purdue Pharma, the maker of Oxycontin.
Goldin himself became addicted to painkillers after the surgery. She then believes that the Sacklers lied about the safety of their drugs and cannot be held responsible.
“It was shocking. It was really shocking. I was so devastated and terrified,” she said.
What I’ve missed in my encounters with Goldin – hidden behind a string of cigarette smoke and weary laughter – is the strength, stubbornness, and battle-hardened courage that helped her take on the Sacklers.
That’s revealed in the new documentary about Goldin, All beauty and bloodshed, now in limited release. The film won the Golden Lion for best film this year at the Venice International Film Festival.
Laura Poitras’ film shows Goldin growing up in an abusive household, surviving in foster care and living homeless in New York City.
Goldin ventured into the art world as one of the most powerful photographers of her generation. To pay the bills — and cover the cost of the film — Goldin often dances in strip clubs and sells sex.
“Photography has always been a way to overcome fear,” Goldin said in the documentary. “It gave me a reason to be there.”
Nan Goldin, left, and director Laura Poitras pose for the film’s photo session All beauty and bloodshed during the 79th edition of the Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy, September 3
Vianney Le Caer/Invision/AP
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Nan Goldin, left, and director Laura Poitras pose for the film’s photo session All beauty and bloodshed during the 79th edition of the Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy, September 3
Vianney Le Caer/Invision/AP
She was then one of the earliest American artists to join the AIDS epidemic, giving a performance in the late 1980s that drew national attention and controversy.
Meanwhile, the Sackler family is becoming incredibly wealthy, first through the sale of Valium and then through the massive marketing of Oxycontin.
Many of the same museums around the world that began collecting Goldin’s photographs also named buildings after the Sacklers – in exchange for lavish donations.
The clash between Sackers and Goldin depicted in this film occurred after Goldin recovered from years of opiate addiction, a period she describes as “the darkness of the soul.”
After reading about the Sacklers’ role in driving Oxycontin sales in a Breakthrough article in The New YorkerGoldin decided to challenge their handpicked public image as discerning philanthropists.
Goldin said in the documentary as he helped organize one of the drug protests that have rocked the art world over the past five years: “All museums and institutions need to stop taking money from the names of people who want to lose money. this corrupt evil bastard.
It is unclear if Goldin’s campaign was effective. The Sackers rank among the most deeply connected and widely respected art patrons.
“Museums…try to pretend that’s not happening,” said the director Laura Poitras in an interview with NPR. “None of them answered.”
But Goldin kept pushing, causing more protests and publishing a scathing personal essay in the influential magazine Artforum.
David Velasco, editor-in-chief of Artforum, said in the documentary: “She knows how to use her powers. She’s a character that museums want to work with.”
It is important to say that the Sackler family has long denied any wrongdoing.
Their company has twice pleaded guilty to federal criminal charges related to opioid marketing, and Purdue Pharma is now bankrupt.
But members of the Sackler family, who run the company and profit from the sale of opium, have never been charged.
Although they have given up control of their company and are expected to pay out billions of dollars as part of the settlement, they are likely to keep most of their assets.
However, they face a different kind of accountability.
In best-selling books like Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynastyaward-winning book and TV series intoxicating drugand this new documentary, the Sacklers family has faced public humiliation.
Sackler’s name has been Stripping from buildings and exhibition spaces in the Guggenheim, Louvre, Met and other leading cultural and educational institutions around the world.
In my conversations with Goldin, she describes this as a sort of slim victory, weighed against the ravages of the still raging opioid crisis.
Hundreds of thousands of Americans died. Fatal overdoses, now mostly caused by the illicit drug fentanyl on the streets, hit a devastating new record in 2021.
In the documentary, however, Goldin allows himself a moment of victory. She walks through an exhibition space in the Met where Sackler’s name has been removed from the wall.
“Congress hasn’t done anything, the Justice Department hasn’t done anything,” Goldin said. “This is the only place they have to take responsibility, the only place. We did it.”
