NAN GOLDIN'S COMPLETE BALLAD SERIES IN LONDON

Summary:

• Gagosian Davies Street presents all 126 photographs from The Ballad of Sexual Dependency, Nan Goldin's documentary series of New York's East Village between 1973 and 1986
• The exhibition runs from January 13 through March 21, 2026, marking the first complete UK showing of the series
• The presentation coincides with the 40th anniversary of the series' original publication by Aperture in 1986

Gagosian's Davies Street location in London will present The Ballad of Sexual Dependency in its complete form starting January 13, 2026. The exhibition includes all 126 photographs from Nan Goldin's documentary series of New York's downtown scene during the 1970s and 1980s. The show runs through March 21, 2026.

This marks the first time the series has been shown in full within the United Kingdom. The presentation arrives 40 years after Aperture published the work in book form in 1986.

Goldin created the photographs between 1973 and 1986, documenting the lives of friends and lovers in New York's East Village. The series captures interiors of bars, bedrooms, bathrooms, and clubs where the artist and her circle spent their time. Goldin described the work as "the diary I let people read."

The photographs emerged from direct participation rather than detached observation. Goldin lived within the community she documented, photographing people she knew personally. The series records a specific moment in New York's cultural history, focused on the punk and bohemian scenes of the East Village during this period.

The work examines themes of gender, power, and intimacy through direct documentation. Goldin photographed relationships, daily life, and private moments without aesthetic distance. The images show people during vulnerable moments, in domestic spaces, and within social environments.

The series helped shift photography's position within the art world. Before The Ballad, photography occupied a secondary position relative to painting and sculpture in galleries and museums. Goldin's work contributed to photography's acceptance as a primary medium for artistic expression.

The formal approach combines snapshot aesthetics with deliberate composition. Goldin used available light and direct flash, creating a visual style others later adopted. The color palette, particularly the saturated reds and blues, became associated with her work.

Goldin stated the series shows "exactly what my world looks like, without glamorization, without glorification." The photographs document a community that experienced significant loss during the AIDS crisis of the 1980s and 1990s. Many subjects died during this period. Goldin later described the work as "a record of the generation that was lost."

The Ballad exists in multiple forms. Goldin originally presented the work as a slideshow with musical accompaniment, projecting images in sequence. This format appeared in clubs and alternative spaces before galleries showed the work. The slideshow version continues to be exhibited. Pirelli HangarBicocca in Milan currently presents the slideshow as part of This Will Not End Well, a retrospective of Goldin's moving image work.

The Aperture book version arranged the photographs in a specific sequence, creating a narrative structure. The Gagosian exhibition will present the photographs as individual prints, allowing viewers to examine each image separately.

The exhibition arrives during renewed interest in Goldin's work. Her 2022 documentary All the Beauty and the Bloodshed won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. The film covers both her artistic practice and her activism against the Sackler family and opioid manufacturers.

Goldin has described the themes in The Ballad as relevant to the present. She noted the series addresses "desire for transformation and the difficulty of connection" which remain relevant today.

The Gagosian exhibition occupies the gallery's Davies Street space at 17-19 Davies Street in London's Mayfair district. The gallery has not announced whether a publication will accompany the exhibition.