At age 12, Barbara, the elder sister of pioneering photographer Nan Goldin, was admitted to a psychiatric centre. The given reasons for her institutionalisation were her sexually provocative behaviour and refusal to shave her legs, amongst many others. As a witness to Barbara’s physical and psychological abuse and her eventual suicide, Goldin ran away from home and found solace amongst a group of fellow rebels before succumbing to an opioid addiction. Now consecrating all this to film, her latest presentation with Gagosian, ‘Sisters, Saints, Sibyls’, opens in London’s former Welsh Chapel, in Soho, until 23 June 2024.
Goldin is a meticulous archivist, and ‘Sisters, Saints, Sibyls’ features a slideshow of photos from her life overlaid by stoic narration. Taking form through a three-channel projection redolent of Byzantine and Christian triptychs, the film opens with the story of early Christian martyr Saint Barbara, beheaded by her father for finding liberation through spirituality. The saint's story offers a useful rubric for interpreting the rest of the piece, particularly where Barbara Goldin’s story is concerned.
