15 Quotes by Nan Goldin

I used to think that I could never lose anyone if I photographed them enough. In fact, my pictures show me how much I’ve lost.

When I was fifteen, the perfect world seemed a place of total androgyny, where you wouldn't know a person's gender until you were in bed with him or her. I've since realized that gender is so much deeper than style.

If I want to take a picture, I take it no matter what.

Yes, photography saved my life. Every time I go through something scary, traumatic, I survive by taking pictures.

I always thought if I photographed anyone or anything enough, I would never lose the person, I would never lose the memory, I would never lose the place. But the pictures show me how much I’ve lost.

I think the wrong things are kept private.

I just get inspired to take a picture by the beauty and vulnerability of my friends.

My desire is to preserve the sense of people’s lives, to endow them with the strength and beauty I see in them. I want the people in my pictures to stare back.

I knew from a very early age, that what I saw on tv had nothing to do with real life. So I wanted to make a record of real life. That included having a camera with me at all times.