Nan Goldin
#NationalRecoveryMonth
Nan Goldin, a prominent American photographer, is celebrated for her raw and intimate portrayal of human relationships, trauma, addiction, and marginalized communities. Born in 1953 in Washington, D.C., Goldin’s work has long reflected the intensity of her own experiences, from her early depictions of queer culture and the AIDS epidemic to her battle with opioid addiction. In recent years, her activism has gained significant attention, especially her fight against the Sackler family, whose company, Purdue Pharma, played a significant role in fueling the opioid crisis.
Goldin’s photographic work emerged in the late 1970s and early 1980s, during a time of significant social upheaval and transformation in the United States. Raised in a suburb of Boston, Goldin experienced trauma at a young age when her older sister committed suicide. This tragedy had a profound impact on Goldin, fueling her desire to explore themes of loss, intimacy, and resilience through her art.
Goldin's work is best known for its candid, documentary style, often shot in dimly lit environments using saturated colors and natural light. Her seminal collection, The Ballad of Sexual Dependency (1986), remains one of her most iconic works. This photographic slideshow features images of her friends and lovers from New York’s downtown scene, documenting their lives, relationships, and struggles with addiction, love, and violence. The work is deeply autobiographical, with Goldin herself appearing in several of the photos, including one image where she displays the bruises left by an abusive lover. The Ballad is raw and unflinching, offering an honest depiction of intimacy, trauma, and human connection that defies the romanticized ideals of relationships typically portrayed in mainstream media.
Her work was radical not only because of its content but also due to her method of presentation. Goldin often exhibited The Ballad of Sexual Dependency as a slideshow set to music, with over 700 photographs cycling through in sequence. This unconventional format allowed her to capture the temporality and fluidity of life itself, inviting viewers into an immersive, often uncomfortable, experience. Her later works continued to delve into themes of addiction, trauma, and mortality, including the impact of the AIDS crisis on her circle of friends.
Despite her career successes, Goldin's personal life took a dark turn in the early 2000s when she became addicted to OxyContin, a prescription opioid produced by Purdue Pharma. After undergoing surgery, Goldin was prescribed the drug for pain management, unaware of its highly addictive properties. Like many Americans, she quickly found herself in the grips of dependency, consuming large quantities of the drug. At the height of her addiction, Goldin described taking 18 pills a day, which nearly resulted in her death (Goldin, 2017).
Her addiction to OxyContin was not unique. In fact, the opioid crisis had been building in the U.S. for years, driven in large part by the aggressive marketing practices of Purdue Pharma. The company’s misleading claims that OxyContin was less addictive than other opioids led to widespread over-prescription by doctors, causing a surge in addiction rates across the country. Between 1999 and 2019, more than 500,000 people in the U.S. died from opioid overdoses, and Purdue Pharma’s OxyContin was a major contributing factor to this public health crisis (Kolodny et al., 2015).
Goldin eventually entered rehabilitation and overcame her opioid addiction, but the experience left her determined to confront the pharmaceutical companies that had profited from the crisis. In particular, she focused her attention on the Sackler family, owners of Purdue Pharma, who had become notorious for their role in the opioid epidemic.
The Sackler family amassed a vast fortune through their pharmaceutical company, Purdue Pharma, primarily from the sales of OxyContin. By the late 1990s, the drug had become one of the most prescribed opioids in the United States, with Purdue Pharma reaping billions of dollars in profits. The Sacklers, meanwhile, used their wealth to gain philanthropic prestige, donating large sums to art institutions such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Tate Modern, and the Louvre. Their name became synonymous with cultural patronage, which helped insulate them from scrutiny regarding their role in the opioid crisis (Keefe, 2017).
However, Purdue Pharma’s deceptive marketing practices were increasingly scrutinized as the opioid epidemic worsened. Despite evidence of the drug’s addictiveness, Purdue continued to promote OxyContin as a safe and effective painkiller, even as overdose deaths soared. As lawsuits against Purdue Pharma mounted, the Sacklers began facing public criticism for their involvement in the crisis.
In 2017, after recovering from her addiction, Goldin founded the activist group Prescription Addiction Intervention Now (P.A.I.N.) to hold the Sackler family accountable for their role in the opioid epidemic. Her activism was rooted in both personal experience and a deep sense of responsibility to the millions of people affected by the crisis. Goldin focused on the Sacklers’ philanthropic ties to major art institutions, arguing that these institutions should refuse donations from a family whose wealth was built on the suffering of others.
Goldin and P.A.I.N. staged several high-profile protests at museums that had accepted Sackler money, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. One of the most notable demonstrations took place in March 2018, when Goldin and fellow activists staged a “die-in” at the Met’s Sackler Wing, where the Temple of Dendur is housed. Protesters lay on the floor, simulating overdose deaths, while others held banners reading “Shame on Sackler” and threw pill bottles into the reflecting pool (Cascone, 2018). The action garnered widespread media attention and sparked a larger conversation about the ethics of accepting donations from the Sackler family.
Goldin’s activism also targeted other cultural institutions, including the Louvre and the Tate Modern. In 2019, the Louvre became the first major museum to remove the Sackler name from its galleries following protests from P.A.I.N. and other advocacy groups (Loughrey, 2019). Goldin’s efforts were instrumental in pressuring other institutions to follow suit, with the Tate and the National Portrait Gallery in London also announcing that they would no longer accept Sackler donations.
Goldin’s activism extended beyond the art world, contributing to the broader fight against Purdue Pharma and the Sacklers. In 2019, Purdue Pharma filed for bankruptcy as part of a settlement with multiple states and plaintiffs who had sued the company for its role in the opioid crisis. While the Sacklers agreed to pay billions in damages, they have largely avoided criminal prosecution, a fact that continues to fuel public outrage (Keefe, 2017).
Nan Goldin’s life and work are inseparable from her personal struggles and her commitment to activism. Her photographic career has been defined by an unflinching exploration of addiction, trauma, and intimacy, while her activism against the Sacklers has brought attention to the ethical responsibilities of cultural institutions and the devastating consequences of corporate greed. Goldin’s fight against the opioid epidemic is a testament to the power of art and activism, showing that individuals can make a difference in holding powerful entities accountable for their actions.
Goldin’s legacy is not only as a groundbreaking artist but also as a tireless advocate for justice. Her efforts to expose the Sackler family’s role in the opioid crisis and to demand accountability have helped catalyze a larger movement for corporate responsibility. As the opioid crisis continues to ravage communities across the United States, Goldin’s work serves as a powerful reminder of the human cost of addiction and the importance of fighting for change.
References
Cascone, Sarah. “Nan Goldin Stages Dramatic Protest at the Met Museum to Shame the Sackler Family for Fueling the Opioid Crisis.” *Artnet News*, March 12, 2018. [https://news.artnet.com/art-world/nan-goldin-met-museum-protest-1235691](https://news.artnet.com/art-world/nan-goldin-met-museum-protest-1235691).
Goldin, Nan. "Fighting the Crisis: Opioid Addiction and Art Activism." Artforum, December 2017.
Keefe, Patrick Radden. "The Family That Built an Empire of Pain." The New Yorker, October 30, 2017. [https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/10/30/the-family-that-built-an-empire-of-pain](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/10/30/the-family-that-built-an-empire-of-pain).
Kolodny, Andrew, et al. "The Prescription Opioid and Heroin Crisis: A Public Health Approach to an Epidemic of Addiction." Annual Review of Public Health 36 (2015): 559-574.
Loughrey, Clarisse. “Louvre Removes Sackler Name from its Walls after Protests over Opioid Crisis.” The Independent, July 17, 2019. [https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/news/sackler-name-louvre-removed-opioid-crisis-nan-goldin-a9007351.html](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/news/sackler-name-louvre-removed-opioid-crisis-nan-gold
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