Art and subject construction. Nan Goldin´s option, creating intimacy as an exercise of freedom

Abstract

This article delves into the conditions that allow for the construction of the contemporary subject through art. I contend that artistic work is a tool that enables a twofold construction of the artist, based on institutions and representations of subjection, and also on representations of liberation. In order to analyze this process, I concentrate on the family narrative developed by contemporary artist Nan Goldin (Washington, 1953) over the last forty years. In her visual diary of intimacy, Goldin meditates upon the characteristics of identity construction through family photos. In analyzing Goldin's trajectory, the article puts into dialogue two moments in her personal life with different conceptions of photography and memory. In addition, my study analyses the treatment that Goldin gives to intimacy and memory in her diary, and shows that creating intimacy through art can be interpreted as an exercise of freedom.