Goldin's Variety series documents the artist's still photographs created for director Bette Gordon's 1983 independent film, Variety, which peered into the nightlife, music, and clubs of Manhattan's Lower East Side. The photograph depicts the film's protagonist, Christine (Sandy McLeod), reading a pornographic magazine and seated behind the window of the ticket booth at the pornography theater in Times Square. Blurring the lines between documentary and reality, this series is a departure for Goldin, while continuing her investigation into behavior, illicit subjects, and empathy.
