Nan Goldin

Nan Goldin is a photographer whose work has been of much contoversy due to its context and credibility. Born in Washington D.C to a Jewish family and growing up in Boston, most of her work is documentary work based around the gay and transexuals communities.
A self proclaimed drug addict and alcoholic, Nan once didn't go outside for 15 years. Having mental health problms herself her life was spent in out of psychiatric wards.
Her photographs are a some what self portrait of her own view of life. Being graphic, raw and at times unpredictable no wonder they where a shock to the mainstream photographical industry of her time.
Like the photograph above, many of her images where taken of transgender males in and out of clubs but mostly in their homes. Goldin's friends were mainly gay or transsexual; drug users and alcoholics. But at that time drugs and alcohol such as cocaine and crack were blindly used for recreational purposes.
Goldin knew her subjects very well so her photographs are both a documentation of her life and experiences with the people around her. They are not planned and rarely contrived, being sometimes blurry and out of focus her photographical skills are made to be questioned by critiques. As to why these simple images deserve any technical credibility or recognition.
Though her photographs target the issues that other photographers were too scared to address such as gays and transsexuals and the HIV AIDS virus that was plaguing their community. Therefore being an eye opener to the hidden world of her time; painting a page in history that would have otherwise gone un noticed.