As I was reading through Nan Goldin's excerpt in Illuminations, I noticed her specific word choice, phrasing and descriptions of her friends and experiences. For example, when she first saw her 'friends', she referred to them as, "the most beautiful creatures I'd ever seen". I thought it was a very interesting description of these people who would soon become her friends and subjects. She then goes on to talk about seeing them as "a third gender that made more sense than either of the other two". As it said in the beginning of the reading, she was completely infatuated with these people, and became obsessed but also respected them and what they did and who they were and I found that to be very inspiring.
Goldin then talks about leaving and attending art school, and then returning to her 'old world', only to find that she was an outsider looking in. She had completely immersed herself in those friends, and in that life, so leaving it for a little while must have been difficult, but returning and seeing that she no longer belonged must have been heartbreaking.
Lastly, I really enjoyed her statement referring to her book not being about "people suffering gender dysphoria but rather expressing gender euphoria. The people in these pictures are truly revolutionary; they are the real winners of the battle of the sexes because they stepped out of the ring." I think that is a great summation of her experiences with this group of people and her understanding of their decisions and life choices.
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