Aperture 239: Ballads

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. This summer, 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. 

FRONT
Agenda: Exhibitions to See 
Marion Palfi, Trevor Paglen, Photo / Brut, Working Together 

Redux 
Brian Wallis on Leonard Freed and the New York police 

Day Jobs 
Nicole Acheampong on Ming Smith as a beauty model 

Viewfinder 
Eva Díaz on women’s hands and the labor of editing 

BACK 
Object Lessons 
David Wojnarowicz’s One Day This Kid, 1990 

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