Nan Goldin, born in 1953, is an American photographer and activist based in New York City. Her work is known for its snapshot-style immediacy, exploring individual emotion, intimate relationships, and bohemian LGBTQ subcultural communities, with a particular focus on the devastating impact of the HIV/AIDS crisis in the 1980s. Her most renowned work, The Ballad of Sexual Dependency, presented as both a slideshow and a monograph in 1986, portrays her chosen “family” while documenting post-punk and gay subcultures. Goldin’s deeply personal approach transforms lived experience into powerful social testimony. Beyond her artistic practice, she is a founding member of the advocacy group P.A.I.N. (Prescription Addiction Intervention Now), which campaigns against the opioid epidemic, extending her commitment to visibility, care, and resistance into the public sphere.