Public and Domestic Incident

When first researcing Photography and Domestic Incident I came across Rankins work with womens aid. The ACT campaign comprised of nine female celebrities made up to look like victims of domestic abuse. The campaign recieved substantial media attention and went on to win a number of honours in the advertising industry.

This subject then lead me on to the work on Nan Goldin.

Nan Goldin describes her photography as a "visual diary". She has stated - "These are my friends, these are my family, this is myself. There is no separation between me and what I photograph".


The self portrait "Nan one month after being battered" was taken to prevent Goldin from forgetting the damage caused by her boyfriends violence.

In one of her better known images, Nan and Brian in Bed NYC 1983, the scene is suffused with a crepscular orange glow that palpably captures the mood of a dying relationship. Brian, her lover at the time, sits naked on the edge of the bed, smoking a cigarette; Goldin lies behind him, her face a mixture of affection and vulnerability. The relationship ended in a storm of abusive violence, as the next image, Nan One Month After Being Battered NYC 1984 dramatically showed, with Goldins scarlet lipstick vividly echoing the blood in her injured eye.

My final images are by a lesser know young photographer named Chris Buley.

The images depict the effects domestic abuse both mental and physical can have on a child.

These are beautiful black and whites which speak for themselves.