Nan Goldin – Gilles Dusein and Gotscho – 1992-1993
Artworks by Nan Goldin, Gilles Dusein, and Gotscho
Nan Goldin wrote:
“My art was the diary of my life. I photographed the people around me. I didn’t think of them as people with AIDS. About ’85, I realized that many of the people around me were positive. David Armstrong took an incredible picture of Kevin, his lover at the time, right before Kevin went into the hospital. I photographed him when he was healthy. At that stage, we still didn’t know very much. There was a lot of ignorance. We were very obsessed with what caused it: There were all kinds of rumors, everything from amyl nitrate to bacon. People were tested and being told they had something called ARC, that quickly became medically non-relevant. I was in denial that people were going to die. I thought people could beat it. And then people started dying.
One of the ways I started becoming involved was through artist and activist Avram Finkelstein in ’86, ’87. I’d become friends again with him, having known him when I was 18 and living with the drag queens in Boston in the early ’70s. He was in art school then. In the 1980s he became my hairdresser up at Sassoon. He had helped start the Silence Equals Death Collective, which turned into Act Up. He was one of the people who designed the logo Silence = Death, and the triangle.” – From this article written by Nan Goldin:
http://digitaljournalist.org/issue0106/voices_goldin.htm
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AIDS organizations:
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This series of photographs was taken by Nan Goldin of Gilles Dusein and Gotscho, lovers who lived in France in 1992 and 1993. The photographs chronicle many important things, from casual pictures of the caring couple in relatively good health with knowing expressions of their imminent health crisis, to Gotscho kissing Gilles after he passed away from consequences of the AIDS virus.*
*Source: Alyce Mahon in her book Eroticism & Art, published by Oxford University Press.
(Click on the images if you wish to view them individually or larger.)
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Gilles arm, 1993, Paris:
Gotscho kissing Gilles (deceased), 1993:
© All rights reserved by Nan Goldin.
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Thank you to Nan, Gilles, and Gotscho for their bravery in sharing the love they saw in each other.
Other Nan Goldin posts on SIA:
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Most Recent Artworks All the Artists’ Artworks Index my43things
Those photos are heartbreaking….
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SIA: Yes, and honest.
such impact cant b found in any other artworks
Thanks nan
The cycle of life and death is overwhelmingly beautiful and sad, the poeple we love and lose, but always love is the very point.
Beautiful and intense.
I never thought a picture would bring me to tears one day.
Hi
I’m really passionate about work that just goes beyond boundaries, i love the way you show the community that is based in truth and reality.
dats so0o0o sad…truly….but dats y u need 2 protect ur self n ur partners… im a counselor 4 ppl who r affected with da virus, n ppl who have drug addictions…
i think Nan Goldin is a wonderfull artist, and that she desn’t take care of drug’s world, and sexual’s diferents, but to the relationship between people, and this work is amazing.
between the picture, between a single photographie she talk about sensation, about story …
love Nan.
have just been commenting on these photos on my twitter, in particular the lovers kiss, if this isn’t love I don’t know what is, beautifully captured. And what a message
Thank you
mx
J’ai connu Gilles au début des années 90.
Il a été mon amant pendant quelque temps, de temps en temps, de loin en loin. J’avais 20 ans, j’étais amoureux de ce beau brun ténébreux, brillant et envoutant.
Il était danseur quand je l’ai connu. Moi aussi.
“Cancanier” (French cancan) il était: c’était pas banal !!!
Il habitait en face du Père Lachaise, dans un immeuble moderne un peu froid. Un appartement rempli de tableaux, grand format, violents, colorés, exaltés.
Puis il est devenu galeriste, rue du Temple. au 1er étage d’un immeuble haussmanienn. Il m’avait invité à son 1er vernissage. Une expo un peu folle, dont la seule chose dont je me souvienne était des renards bleus qui sautaient par dessus des tables. Je crois ? Je ne me souviens plus très bien. J’ai gardé la carte postale de l’expo. Elle est dans une boite à cartes postales reçues.
Puis, plus rien. Il a disparu.
En 2003, à Bruxelles, je suis tombé complètement par hasard sur ce livre. Ces photos de lui. Lui ! Bouleversé.
J’ai célébré, hier, mardi 27/09/11, le 10ème anniversaire du décès de mon ami. 10 ans déjà ! J’étais avec sa famille. Ensemble. Sympa.
Sans doute ce qui m’a fait penser à Gilles.
Amitiés
Daniel D.
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Loosely translated from French:
I met Gilles in the early 90′s.
He was my lover for a while, occasionally, from time. I was 20, I was in love with this beautiful dark brown, bright and bewitching.
He was a dancer when I met him. So do I.
“Gossipy” (cancan) it was: it was not trivial!
He lived across from the Pere Lachaise, a modern building in a little cold. An apartment filled with tables, large, violent, colorful, wild.
Then he became a gallery owner, rue du Temple. the first floor of a building Haussman. He invited me to his first opening. An exhibition a little crazy, the only thing I remember was the blue fox jumped over the tables. I think? I do not remember very well. I kept the postcard of the show. It is in a box postcards received.
Then, nothing. He disappeared.
In 2003, in Brussels, I came completely by chance on this book. These photos of him. Him! Upset.
I celebrated yesterday, Tuesday, 27/09/11, the 10th anniversary of the death of my friend. 10 years! I was with his family. Together. Nice.
Probably what got me thinking about Gilles.
Friends
Daniel D.
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Omo: Thank you very much for sharing your rememberances.
Congrat!!!! yoor blog is fantastic!!!!