Atelier Talk | Crossing Gender Boundaries — Nan Goldin’s Photography from a Queer Cultural Perspective

Introduction

In today’s era, where gender issues are widely discussed, the LGBTQ+ rights movement has traversed many pivotal moments throughout history. The 1960s “Stonewall Riots” in New York are regarded as a crucial milestone in the resistance of LGBTQ+ and transgender communities against societal norms, leading to the establishment and organization of numerous advocacy groups and marches. American contemporary photographer Nan Goldin lived through this turbulent and transformative period. She once said, “My desire is to preserve the perception of people’s lives, to give the power and beauty I see in them.” Beginning in the early 1970s, Goldin photographed the transgender community in Boston in a series of black-and-white images, marking the start of her artistic journey. Her work captured people within the post-Stonewall LGBTQ+ cultural context, portraying drag queens, intimate same-sex and heterosexual couples, and exploring themes such as drug use, AIDS, and sexuality.

Winsing Arts Foundation is honored to invite Wen Liu, a social psychologist who lived in the United States for many years, to discuss the history and development of queer culture in America. She will explore the life of the East Village underground subculture in 1970s–1980s New York and examine the queer world through Nan Goldin’s photography. Professor Liu will also share his experiences living in New York, discussing, from both academic and social movement perspectives, the queer culture depicted in Goldin’s work, as well as her focus on gender and marginalized communities behind the vivid colors and striking visuals of her images.