Nan Goldin's The Ballad of Sexual Dependency Debuts in Italy at Triennale Milano

The first Italian exhibition of Nan Goldin's seminal slideshow The Ballad of Sexual Dependency opens at Triennale Milano, curated by François Hébel. The show presents Goldin's intimate, diaristic photographic series that revolutionized the medium by combining hundreds of portraits with a soundtrack ranging from Maria Callas to the Velvet Underground. Hébel, who first encountered Goldin's work in 1986 New York and invited her to the Rencontres d'Arles, describes the piece as a 'living thing' that Goldin constantly reconfigures. The exhibition highlights Goldin's snapshot aesthetic, her refusal of symmetry, and her empathetic gaze that places viewers inside the image. Goldin's work documents her chosen family—friends and lovers in New York's underground scene—and confronts themes of addiction, AIDS, and loss, including the suicide of her sister Barbara. Guido Costa, Goldin's Italian gallerist, notes her pioneering role in visual diary-making, contrasting her raw authenticity with Warhol's glamour and Cindy Sherman's masquerade. The show runs at Triennale Milano as part of the Foto/Industria biennial.