A major Nan Goldin exhibition is coming to London
- Text by Jack Dennison-Thompson
- Photography by Nan Goldin
You Never Did Anything Wrong — Opening at the Hayward Gallery in November, the show will debut a new film from the artist and activist, alongside a slate of recent work.
A new exhibition at the Hayward Gallery brings the work of Nan Goldin to the UK, in her first institutional show since 2002.
Running from November until March 2027, You Never Did Anything Wrong is curated by Rachel Thomas and exhibits Goldin’s recent exploration into film and moving images.
The exhibition will see will see the debut her latest project You Never Did Anything Wrong, Part II (2026) which she collaborated on with filmmaker David Sherman, and features a score composed by producer and songwriter Mica Levi. It mixes the tainted soundtracks of old films with nature footage from the 1960s to ’70s, offering a look into how humans are taught to observe other species.
Part I, released in 2024, centres around animal consciousness, as the film takes inspiration from an ancient myth of animals who steal the sun, presenting a world without humans. It is dedicated to the oldest animal rescue in the Gaza Strip, Sulala Animal Rescue.
Mark Ball, Southbank Centre’s Artistic Director, said: “Nan Goldin has reshaped the language of photography, transforming the medium into a profound living record of human intimacy and resilience.”
The exhibition will also feature her 2019 – 2021 project Memory Lost, which explored her relationship with drugs and her history of addiction, and her photographic project Stendhal Syndrome (2024) will make its UK debut at the exhibition.
Having been photographing and making art since 1969, Nan Goldin is regarded as one of queer photography’s most important figures. Her work has documented personal relationships in intimate detail, along with the USA’s opioid crisis and the AIDS epidemic.
She has also been a prominent activist, having founded P.A.I.N (Prescription Addiction Intervention Now), after a fentanyl overdose nearly killed her. In 2018, she led a protest against Purdue Pharma and Richard Sackler at the Metropolitan Museum in New York – where the former company president had a wing named after him – and the company’s role in aggressively marketing opioid prescription painkiller OxyContin.
Nan Goldin: You Never Did Anything Wrong is on view at The Hayward Gallery between November 24, 2026 and March 7, 2027.
Jack Dennison-Thompson is a freelance journalist. Follow him on Instagram.
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