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This constantly changing piece of work is perhaps the most effective example of the intimacy and immediacy of Goldin's photography. The Ballad of Sexual Dependency was the first way in which Goldin began showing her work to her friends, who, largely, were her subjects. Goldin would usually be on hand at showings to orchestrate the event. What started out as an intimate gathering of friends appreciating another friend's art turned into an internationally known art event when Goldin showed the series at multiple venues and film festivals around the world.
Goldin gleaned the title, The Ballad of Sexual Dependency, from a song in The Threepenny Opera, by Bertold Brecht and Kurt Weill. This allusion demonstrates the importance of the music to this piece. Goldin's images encompass the entire scope of her life -- no moment goes undocumented. In these photographs, men and women make love, women step out of showers, are pictured on the toilet, in bed, or partying. There are images of Goldin herself, of her lovers past and present, and startlingly raw portraits of her friends and acquaintances at their most vulnerable moments.
The photographs in this work, and, indeed, all of Goldin's photographs, are imbued with a very personal, very intense sense of Goldin herself. To separate her from her photographs or her photographs from her would be nearly impossible. In photographs such as Self-portrait with Brian having sex, My parents wedding photo, or the famous Nan and Brian in Bed, Goldin puts the most personal, intimate moments of her life on display for the public without sensationalizing them. The Ballad of Sexual Dependency was a work meant as a sort of tribute to her friends, created with the help and cooperation of those same people.
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