The US photographer and activist Nan Goldin will present her film installation Sisters, Saints, Sibyls (2004–22)—which deals with mental health issues, addiction and suicide—in a deconsecrated Presbyterian church in Soho, London, known as the Welsh chapel (83 Charing Cross Road, 30 May-23 June).
The three-channel film presentation explores the mythological history of the rebellious Christian martyr, Saint Barbara, in parallel with a narrative about Goldin’s elder sister, Barbara Holly Goldin, who was sent to a psychiatric detention centre aged 12. Barbara’s refusal to shave her legs was among the reasons given for her incarceration.
When Goldin was 11, Barbara died by suicide, aged 19, by lying in front of an oncoming train. The film also focuses on Goldin’s own history, outlining how she ultimately “found her tribe of fellow rebels”, a project statement says.
The "Welsh chapel" or 83 Charing Cross Road, London, 2024
Photo: Lucy Dawkins; Courtesy Gagosian
Goldin’s work was originally conceived in 2004 for the chapel of the Hôpital de la Salpêtrière in Paris which was founded as an asylum in 1656. In 2006, Goldin explained the impetus for the film, saying: “I intend to explore the relationship between the story of my sister, myself, and Saint Barbara, and, more generally, the parallel between saints and modern rebellious women.”
Goldin told The Guardian: “I don't think you ever come to terms with a suicide especially if it is someone you admired and needed and whose death was so violent. It's an act that never destroys just one person. But there was no ambiguity about what she did and I take that as courage.” She also continues to campaign for the addiction advocacy group, Pain.
The Goldin project is the second presentation of Gagosian Open, a nomadic venture that invites artists to exhibit in offsite spaces, both in and outdoors. The idea came about after the dealer Larry Gagosian decided to end the lease on his Britannia Street building in north London early last year. Instead of looking for another permanent bricks-and-mortar space (Gagosian had occupied Britannia Street for 20 years and currently has 19 spaces in seven countries), the gallery opted for something more makeshift.
The inaugural project, an exhibition of around 20 early wrapped works by the late Bulgarian-born artist Christo, opened last October in a Georgian townhouse on Princelet Street in Spitalfields, East London.
Goldin's work is for sale (the work was initially created as an edition of five). “[Sisters, Saints, Sibyls] is one of her most significant, large-scale, longform video works; it has also been included in her current touring museum exhibition," says a Gagosian spokesperson. Goldin's retrospective This Will Not End Well was recently held at Moderna Museet, Stockholm (2022–23), and Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam (2023–24), and will travel to the Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin.
• Sisters, Saints, Sibyls will be open extended hours during London Gallery Weekend (31 May-2 June).