An activist and rebel at heart since her beginnings in the 1970s, when she photographed her friends from New York's underground scene, Nan Goldin has remained true to her reputation. On Tuesday, July 8, before a packed Théâtre Antique, the American photographer, known for her activism against AIDS and the devastation caused by opioid addiction, used the opening night of the Rencontres d'Arles photography festival in southern France to condemn Israel's war in Gaza.

The evening began on a poetic note, with two tightrope walkers from the Gratte Ciel company suspended in front of the massive screen where photographs exhibited at the festival were projected. Nearly 2,500 people, seated all the way up to the stage, had reserved their seats, drawn by the presence of Goldin, the winner of the Women in Motion award, which honors women photographers. "I got the Women in Motion award even though I can barely walk!" joked the 71-year-old photographer, a regular at the festival. In 1987, it was at the Théâtre Antique that her most famous work, The Ballad of Sexual Dependency, a raw look into the artist's private life and that of her friends, was shown for the first time in Europe and found its definitive form.

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