All The Beauty And The Bloodshed

“All the Beauty and the Bloodshed,” Laura Poitras’s documentary about photographer Nan Goldin.  First, she sets out to tell the story of Goldin’s life, from her unfortunate childhood within her jewish family, the trauma of her older sister’s suicide, who met her demise when she placed herself in the path of a train. It goes on to detail her early years taking pictures onto her maturity as an artist, toward her ascent as one of the most important photographers of her generation. Poitras seems to take her cues from Goldin, who’s one of the film’s producers. Goldin’s own voice-over helps to grasps the climate of pain and suffering.  It is also documents Goldin’s establishment of the activist group P.A.I.N. (Prescription Addiction Intervention Now) in response to not only the opioid crisis but her personal battle 2014 when prescribed it for wrist pain.

Nan Goldin developed friendships and participated in fluid romances with men and women. Her art wasn’t always embraced by the art world but then it was. Check out the trailer below: