Nan Goldin Turns to Animals at the Hayward

Nan Goldin, the American photographer known for her intimate pictures of friends, lovers and queer communities, is turning her attention to other species. Her exhibition Nan Goldin: You Never Did Anything Wrong opens at London's Hayward Gallery on Nov. 24 and runs to March 14, 2027, according to the Southbank Centre. It is her first institutional show in the United Kingdom since 2002.

What will be on view

The Southbank Centre's July 15 announcement says the show will debut a new film alongside other recent moving-image works and photographs. It rounds off the Southbank Centre's 75th anniversary year, and the release describes it as a rare insight into how people can survive, empathize and find beauty in uncertain times.

The centerpiece is the public debut of You never did anything wrong, Part II, from 2026. It screens with Part I, made in 2024. Both mark what the press release calls a striking new direction, as Goldin shifts her focus away from humans and toward other species.

Part I was shot on 16mm film and centers on a solar eclipse. It is inspired by an ancient myth of animals stealing the sun and, in the release's words, shows the full range of animal consciousness in a world without humans. It features music by Valerij Fedorenko and an original score by Mica Levi, and is dedicated to Sulala Animal Rescue, the oldest animal rescue in the Gaza Strip, with which Goldin has worked closely.

Part II was made with the filmmaker David Sherman. It is an abstract film built from found footage and damaged soundtracks from old 16mm films, mostly nature documentaries from the 1960s and 1970s, with a new score by Levi. The release says the film reflects how people were taught to view other species and grows into a lyrical ode to land and animals shadowed by a sense of impending extinction.

The older work

The exhibition also marks the UK premiere of Stendhal Syndrome, from 2024. It contrasts photographs of Goldin's friends and lovers with classical art from museums around the world, to reveal resemblances in composition, color and emotion. The score is by Soundwalk Collective. In Goldin's words, quoted in the release, the work shows that her people have always been here.

Memory Lost, made between 2019 and 2021, explores her own history with drugs and addiction through slides of scenes from her life. The release says it connects personal testimony to structural critique and advocates harm reduction and an end to stigma around drug use. It is dedicated to P.A.I.N., the activist group Goldin started to confront the overdose crisis. The spaces for the films were designed with the architect Hala Wardé to suit the mood of each piece, and photographs, including a new body of prints connected to the new films, hang upstairs.

Five decades of looking

The Southbank Centre summarizes her career as five decades of documenting personal relationships, addiction and queer communities, closing the distance between observer and observed. Her work transformed photography, it says, by capturing the rawness of her own life. The new show suggests that the commitment to bearing witness now extends to animals and the land.

Why it matters for American readers

Goldin is an American artist, and her activism through P.A.I.N. addresses the overdose crisis in the United States. The show is in London, and none of the sources we found announced a United States stop, so American readers will likely first meet the new films through coverage rather than in person. The attention to Gaza and to harm reduction reflects public debates familiar to American audiences, and the sources describe them in the artist's own terms.

What we could not confirm

Our account relies on the Southbank Centre's own announcement, which is promotional. We have not seen the films or the exhibition, and no reviews are available because the show has not opened. The Nov. 24 opening and March 14 closing dates come from the Southbank Centre's listing as summarized by our search, and we have not rechecked ticket prices or any related events. We could not confirm whether the show will travel. The cover photograph was taken in Berlin in 2023 at the ceremony for the Käthe Kollwitz Prize.

FAQ

When does the Nan Goldin exhibition open?

Nov. 24, 2026 at the Hayward Gallery in London, running through March 14, 2027, according to the Southbank Centre.

What is new in the show?

The public debut of the film You never did anything wrong, Part II, shown with Part I and other works.

Is the show coming to the United States?

We found no announcement of a U.S. venue.

Sources

*Cover photo: Elena Ternovaja, Wikimedia Commons, *[*https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nan_Goldin,_Berlin_2023-1.jpg*](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nan_Goldin,_Berlin_2023-1.jpg)* (CC BY-SA 3.0).*