A lipstick is worth a hundred words
By Jessica M



The photographer Nan Goldin is best known for chronicling her friends’ lives in New York’s downtown bohemia of the 1970s and 1980s. This woman contemplates her solitary reflection in a mirror. Her only accessories are the towel wrapped around her body and a lipstick on the bathroom counter. Many of Goldin’s subjects — drug addicts, drag queens, abusive lovers — acted out their private tragedies for her camera. We don’t know who this woman is or how her evening will end. But for this one moment, at least, her lipstick is perfect and she is in control of her destiny.

Image: Nan Goldin, Sandra in the Mirror, New York City, 1985.