The winter issue of Aperture magazine, #197, explores the important relationship between photography and the performative. Writer Greil Marcus looks at that relationship as he considers the score for Nan Goldin’s seminal slide show, The Ballad of Sexual Dependency.  Carrie Mae Weems’s projects are just as personal; she uses her films and photographs to express the nuances of her existence as a black woman and explore the undercurrents of power.

Richard Brody, staff writer at the New Yorker, examines the photographs of Raymond Cauchetier, the renowned photographer whose documentation of the French New Wave scene offered behind-the-scenes looks at Jean-Luc Godard, Francois Truffaut, and other groundbreaking directors.

Francine Prose speaks with Maira Kalman about the artist’s use of photography and illustration; Anthony Downey discusses contemporary Iranian photographers; photographer Andrew Moore reports on the decline and decay of the city of Detroit and its surrounding areas; and innovative fashion photographer Nick Knight is interviewed by Diane Smyth on his career and process.  Also, Robert Adams revisits his classic series of nocturnes featured in his newly published edition Summer Nights, Walking, in an interview with Joshua Chuang.

Click to view web-exclusive: Anthony Downey on the June 2009 Green Revolution in Iran.

**  Reader challenge:  In which year did Nan Goldin present her groundbreaking slide show, Ballad of Sexual Dependency? **

Pick up your copy of Aperture magazine at newsstands nationwide, order issue #197,  or subscribe here.

To order a one-year gift subscription to Aperture magazine for a family member or friend at 50% off the regular price, click here!

To help support and educate young photographers by donating a one-year subscription to a school or library at 50% off the regular price, click here!

With over 60 exhibitions set among beautiful 12th-century churches and former industrial buildings, the 40th Rencontres d’Arles is not to be missed. The carefully prepared exhibitions are mostly produced by the Rencontres team, along with artists and curators, and often travel on to other parts of the world.

Returning to Arles after over twenty years, Nan Goldin is presented in 40 Years of Ruptures, and has invited 12 photographers to participate in the exhibition Ça me touche, Nan Goldin’s Guests: David Armstrong, Marina Berio, Jean-Christian Bourcart, Antoine D’Agata, JH Engström, Jim Goldberg, Christine Fenzl, Leigh Ledare, Boris Mikhailov, Anders Petersen, Jack Pierson, Lisa Ross and Annelies Strba on view at the Atelier de Mécanique.

Additionally, Goldin is presenting three personal exhibitions: The Ballad of Sexual Dependency, a visual diary of her life in New York; Sisters, Saints and Sibyls, a tribute to her sister and to those rebel women fighting for survival in society; and her own collection of photographs. On Saturday, July 11, Nan Goldin will be honored with a Discovery and Book Award ceremony for her influential work in contemporary photography. Aperture originally published Goldin’s masterwork The Ballad of Sexual Dependency in 1986.

Les Rencontres d’Arles 2009

40 Years of Rencontres/40 Years of Ruptures
Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie
Tuesday, July 7—Sunday, September 13, 2009
10 rond-point des Arénes
13632 Arles, France
Phone: +33 (0)4 . 90967606

Nan Goldin: The Ballad of Sexual Dependency+ Tiger Lillies
Saturday, July 11, 2009  10:15 pm
Théâtre Antique

Nan Goldin, The Ballad of Sexual Dependency: Atelier de Mécanique