Aperture 239 - Summer 2020
Ballads
Few works have impacted the world of photography like Nan Goldin’s The Ballad of Sexual Dependency. Published by Aperture in 1986, Aperture magazine returns to an iconic work with “Ballads,” a special issue featuring an exclusive interview with Goldin as well as a section curated by the artist dedicated to her influences.
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Issue Details
The Ballads issue of Aperture magazine is organized around the themes contained within the original ballad—intimacy, friendship, community, love, sex, trauma, music—while also honoring the urgent role of the artist as a force for cultural and social change.
Few works have impacted the world of photography like Nan Goldin’s The Ballad of Sexual Dependency. Published by Aperture in 1986, The Ballad retains an uncommon power with its unflinching portrayal of friends, lovers, and relationships—a dramatic opera of joy and despair. Decades on, influencing new generations of artists. Goldin herself remains a bold, singular force in our culture. Aperture magazine returns to an iconic work with “Ballads,” a special issue featuring an exclusive interview with Goldin as well as a section curated by the artist dedicated to her influences.
Format: Paperback / softback
Number of pages: 136
Publication date: 2020-06-09
Measurements: 9.25 x 12 x 0.6 inches
ISBN: 9781597114844
Significant support for Aperture magazine is provided by The Kanakia Foundation. Further generous support is provided in part by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and Selina Chelsea.
Table Of Contents
Front
Agenda: Exhibitions to See
Marion Palfi, Trevor Paglen, Photo / Brut, Working Together
Front
Redux
Brian Wallis on Leonard Freed and the New York police
Front
Day Jobs
Nicole Acheampong on Ming Smith as a beauty model
Front
Viewfinder
Eva Díaz on women’s hands and the labor of editing
Words
The Ballad of Nan Goldin
The legendary photographer reflects on art, addiction, and activism
A Conversation with Darryl Pinckney
The Original Ballad
The making of a groundbreaking photobook
Marvin Heiferman in Conversation with Elle Pérez
Speeding Along the Edge
Jack Pierson, Mark Morrisroe, and the search for a queer utopia
by Evan Moffitt
The Evocative Years
Libuše Jarcovjáková’s vivid chronicle of Prague’s subcultures
by Alistair O’Neill
A Fold in Time
David Wojnarowicz and the radical archives of the Fales Library
by Olivia Laing
Out of Sheer Rage
How can art and film become forms of protest?
by Lauren O’Neill-Butler
A World Without Men
The Japanese photographers who dared to be “girly”
by Moeko Fujii
Film Studies
Nan Goldin’s imprint on cinema and television
by Rebecca Bengal
Surface Tension
In fashion images, a quest for the truth
by Lou Stoppard
Pictures
Feast for My Eyes
A pantheon of influences by Nan Goldin
Pablo Bartholomew
Introduction by Skye Arundhati Thomas
Sunny Suits
Introduction by Jesse Dorris
Daragh Soden
Introduction by Colin Barrett
Liz Johnson Artur
Introduction by Kareem Reid
Abdul Kircher
Introduction by Lovia Gyarkye
Clifford Prince King
Introduction by Marjon Carlos
223
Introduction by Xuan Juliana Wang
Back
Object Lessons
David Wojnarowicz’s One Day This Kid, 1990