"The thing about my work is, nothing is prearranged, prethought, premeditated. In no way was I directing the pictures; they're just fragments of life as it was being lived. There was no staging. When you set up pictures you're not at any risk. Reality involves chance and risk and diving for pearls." - Nan Goldin1

The present lot highlights Goldin's honest approach which often coalesces around themes of love, sexuality, addiction, and identity. Through her images, Goldin captured fragments of life as it unfolded. Many of her images, at times sexual, vivid and violent, are autobiographical, detailing experiences emerging from her own life and relationships.

Throughout her career, Goldin made several images of men and women reflected through mirrors - friends, lovers, and self-portraits in different settings, often with very straightforward and generic titles describing the subject. The present lot captures a moment of introspection, where the subject's gaze and reflection converge in a moment of self-examination.

1. Nan Goldin in Artforum (no date) '80s Then - Nan Goldin by Tom Holert, online, https://www.artforum.com/columns/nan-goldin-3-165811/, accessed 20 August 2024.