Nan Goldin
PHOTOGRAPHER (1953 - present)
Nan Goldin is an American photographer,
exploring LGBT bodies and moments of
intimacy. Her camera was a useful political
tool, to inform the public about censorship in
America. During her career, her work
documented those on the margins of society,
photographing gay and transgender
communities, the post punk music scene and
post-Stonewall culture in the 70s and 80s. Her
photographs are seen as a diary to learn the
stories and details of those close to her. Her
most notable piece "Nan One Month After
Being Battered, 1984" is an iconic image used
to reclaim her identity and life. Latterly Goldin
has been involved in activism addressing the
opioid crisis, partly in response to her own
addiction, and has campaigned for galleries
not to receive money from pharmaceutical
companies.
Barbara Kruger
CONCEPTUAL ARTIST (1945 - present)
Barbara Kruger is an American conceptual
artist and collagist. Addressing issues of
language and sign, Kruger has often been
grouped with feminist postmodern artists. In
particular, she uses the techniques of mass
communication and advertising to explore
gender and identity. Most of her work deals
with topics like feminism, consumerism, and
individual autonomy and desire, frequently
appropriating images from magazines and
using her bold phrases to frame them in a
new context. Her poster for the 1989
Women's March on Washington in support of
legal abortion, included a woman's face
bisected into positive and negative
reproductions, accompanied by the text "Your
body is a battleground." A year later, Kruger
used this slogan in a billboard commissioned
by the Wexner Center for the Arts.
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