Gagosian is pleased to announce Nan Goldin’s 'Sisters, Saints, Sibyls' , the second presentation of Gagosian Open, a series of off-site projects that allows audiences to experience remarkable artworks in unusual contexts. The exhibition is on view at the former Welsh chapel at 83 Charing Cross Road, London, from 30 May to 23 June 2024. Goldin begins her film 'Sisters, Saints, Sibyls' (2004–22) with the myth of Saint Barbara, presenting the story of the early Christian martyr as a three-channel projection that echoes the triptych format of classical religious painting. Images of Saint Barbara accompany a voiceover that describes her...
Gagosian is pleased to announce Nan Goldin’s 'Sisters, Saints, Sibyls', the second presentation of Gagosian Open, a series of off-site projects that allows audiences to experience remarkable artworks in unusual contexts. The exhibition is on view at the former Welsh chapel at 83 Charing Cross Road, London, from 30 May to 23 June 2024.
Goldin begins her film 'Sisters, Saints, Sibyls' (2004–22) with the myth of Saint Barbara, presenting the story of the early Christian martyr as a three-channel projection that echoes the triptych format of classical religious painting. Images of Saint Barbara accompany a voiceover that describes her defiance of her parents’ beliefs, a transgression for which they tortured her. This is analogous to the real subject of Goldin’s film and underpins its visual narrative.
In 1958, Goldin’s elder sister, Barbara Holly Goldin, was sent to a psychiatric detention center at age twelve. She spent time in and out of such facilities for the next six years. Barbara was accused of “acting out, open defiance, sexually provocative behavior, association with undesirable friends, [and being] loud and coarse in speech.” Reports state that she went on dates with an older Black man, appeared to be confused about her sexual identity, and refused to shave her legs. Barbara stirred up a perfect storm of middle-class, midcentury fears around race, sexuality, and gender roles.
Goldin was a witness to the physical and psychic abuse that Barbara suffered and that her family tried to conceal. Barbara’s death by suicide in 1965, at the age of eighteen, was a defining event in Goldin’s life, prompting her to rebel against and run away from her living situation at the time, and the remainder of 'Sisters, Saints, Sibyls' describes how she found her tribe of fellow rebels. She shows us her own experience with addiction, confinement, and self-harm, and that with living comes not only maturity and change, but also loss and pain.
For the site of the Gagosian Open presentation of 'Sisters, Saints, Sibyls', Goldin chose a deconsecrated church in Soho known as the Welsh chapel. The installation is a visceral, immersive environment, referencing nineteenth-century operating theaters. The piece was originally conceived in 2004, for the chapel of the Hôpital de la Salpêtrière, Paris. Salpêtrière was founded as an asylum in 1656 and was where Jean-Martin Charcot practiced his experiments on “hysteric” women. Goldin’s life’s work has always been about fighting stigma embedded in our society, addressing issues that include mental illness, addiction, and sexuality.
'Sisters, Saints, Sibyls' will be open extended hours during London Gallery Weekend, on Friday, May 31, and Saturday, June 1, from 10am to 8pm, and on Sunday, June 2, from 10am to 6pm.
