Empower

Merriam Webster dictionary defines the word instinct as "a largely inheritable and unalterable tendency of an organism to make a complex and specific response to environmental stimuli without involving reason". In my opinion, when we respond to violence we are responding with our instincts. Some of us freeze, someone of us fight back and someone of us just turn on our heals and run away. But if our instincts don't come from reason then where do they come from? 

We know by now that part of these instincts stem from the experiences that we have as young children and some through out our adult life. As an individual that grew up in an aggressive household, I find that it is more comfortable for me to run towards violence than others. This "instinct" has grown and developed from the experiences I had as a child and now adapted as a teacher. In the face of violence I think that I confront it in hopes of stopping it. I was raised by a father who was suffering from undiagnosed Type 2 Bipolar Disorder, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and Attention Deficit. With this trifecta of disorders came a whirlwind of emotions, abusive behavior and erratic responses. I think that I respond to violence in person versus in the media in very different ways. Due to my father's violent behavior becoming my normal everyday, I do not bat an eye at reading or watching violence because it makes rational sense to me. 

At first, when I was asked to consider who my heroes were, no one came to mind. When I think of heroes the images of people running into burning buildings and risking their lives came to mind. I think that I have never clung to individuals like those because they do not reflect my own set of characteristics of morals. So, I thought of artists who reflected what I thought was a creative philosophy that matched my own. 

My "hero" is Nan Goldin for a variety of reason. Goldin is a photographer that began working the the early 80's in New York. This was a time before smart phones and Instagram, yet she created with the same mentality: document everything and everyone. Her book "Ballad of Sexual Dependency" is filled with intimate moments between lovers, fiery fights between friends, and every day habits of her and her friends life. These photographs were presented as messages of vulnerability that simultaneously asked you to empathize with situations beyond your own. Mixed within these photographs were examples of substance abuse, gender and sexual identity, and physical abuse.   

 In this self portrait, Nan Goldin responds to the violent actions taken on her with bold confrontation. This photograph is titled, "Nan One Month After Being Battered". It was taken not to shock you but share with you the reality of her situation. Her situation was that her long term partner Brian had beaten her so badly that she had almost gone blind. By taking that reality and unapologetically sharing it with others she was raising awareness and giving volume to a problem that had a very quiet voice. The division of men and women then, and now in today's society needs to be closed. Men need to be taught that it is okay to be gentle and have mercy while women need to be reminded that it is okay for them to stand up for themselves and be fierce. Is violence a part of men inherently? Or does society teach them that to be men they must become violent?

In Nan Goldin's work, she confronted many issues with her camera. Her photographs documents a generation that was quickly dying not only from substance abuse but also from the AID's epidemic. Her way of confronting the violence of death was to present it in a gentle fashion. Her photographs were always about creating and sharing relationships. She did not view the people that she photographed as her subjects but as her friends. In this image, a lover kissed his dying partner on the forehead. Again, this image strikes a hard note within us but it is not done to shock us. It is done so to show us, share with us and teach us about the consequences of the injustice that was being done to an entire community of people. Goldin confronted everything without any filter, she simply showed you what TV ads and radios couldn't.

 Now, as a photographer in the 2000's Nan Goldin is taking these experiences and putting them into action. After battling an addiction to OxyCotin she not only fought back with her photographs but she took action against those in the art world that benefitted from the pain of others because she says, "I can’t stand by and watch another generation disappear." She has created the group P.A.I.N (Prescription Addiction Intervention Now) whose aim is "...to address the opioid crisis. We are artists, activists, and people dealing with addiction who employ direct action as a platform for our demands. We target the Sackler family, who manufactured and pushed Oxycontin, through the museums and universities that carry their name."

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/15/arts/design/bleak-reality-in-nan-goldins-the-ballad-of-sexual-dependency.html

https://www.artforum.com/print/201801/nan-goldin-73181

https://www.sacklerpain.org/mission-statement