Award for Nan Goldin

Nan Goldin is set to receive the 2022 Käthe Kollwitz Prize. To mark the occasion, the Berlin Academy of Arts – which will also host the award ceremony – presents a showcase spanning five decades of the photographer’s oeuvre, on view from January 20 to March 19, 2023.

Nan Goldin (b. 1953) ranks among the most important artists of her generation, known for her frank and personal explorations of themes such as love, sexuality and gender norms. By pushing boundaries and breaking taboos, she has used her work – much of which revolves around her own social circle – to advocate for greater acceptance and recognition of the LGBT community. The immediacy that characterises Goldin’s portraiture stems from her own proximity to a way of life that is unfamiliar to many, yet is revealed through the artist’s work.

Golding thinks of her images in terms of rhythmic sequences, giving rise to culminative compositions that are in constant motion due to expansions, changes and the interplay of individual elements. The exhibition – which is accompanied by a catalogue – comprises early black-and-white photographs from her years in Boston, New York, Berlin and Asia, as well as recent large-format works, including landscapes and grid-like collages.