… On September 14th her husband Vittorio Scarpati died from an AIDS-related illness and after that Cookie kind of gave up. She died on November 10th in the hospice of the Cabrini Medical Centre.

I used to think I couldn’t lose anyone if I photographed them enough. I put together this series of pictures of Cookie from the 13 years I knew her in order to keep her with me. In fact, they show me how much I’ve lost.

N.Y.C Sept. 1990

— Nan Goldin, 1996. I’ll Be Your Mirror.