I used to think that I could never lose anyone if I photographed them enough. In fact, my pictures show me how much I’ve lost.
Interpretation
The quote reflects on the emotional distance created by loss, despite the effort to capture memories through photography.
Nan Goldin's quote reveals a deep introspection about the nature of loss and memory. Although she believed that capturing someone's image through photography could preserve their essence and prevent loss, the act of viewing these photographs ultimately serves as a poignant reminder of what she has lost. This paradox highlights how memories and visual representations can evoke both comfort and sorrow, illustrating the complex interplay between love, memory, and grief in human relationships.
In practice
In a speech about the importance of capturing memories, this quote illustrates the bittersweet nature of remembrance.
A lot of people seem to think that art or photography is about the way things look, or the surface of things. That's not what it's about for me. It's really about relationships and feelings...it's really hard for me to do commercial work because people kind of want me to do a Nan Goldin. They don't understand that it's not about a style or a look or a setup. It's about emotional obsession and empathy.
Men take on the nature and the habits and the power of thought of those with whom they associate in a spirit of sympathy and harmony.
Word by word, the language of women so often begins with a whisper.
On rare occasions one does hear of a miraculous case of a married couple falling in love after marriage, but on close examination it will be found that it is a mere adjustment to the inevitable.
All companionship can consist in only the strengthening of neighboring solitudes, giving oneself is by nature harmful to companionship: for when a person abandons himself, he is no longer anything, and when two people both give themselves up in order to become closer to each other, there is no longer any ground beneath them and their being together is a continual falling – I have learned over and over again, there is scarcely anything more difficult than to love one another.
The secret of a happy marriage is to serve God and each other. The goal of marriage is unity and oneness, as well as self-development. Paradoxically, the more we serve one another, the greater is our spiritual and emotional growth.
Have you any other objection than your belief of my indifference?" - Elizabeth Bennet
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