Nan Goldin's photographs of children – in pictures

After years of photographing adults, Nan Golding has begun to focus on the children close to her – often her godchildren or children of friends. 'I don't remember much ever feeling like a child, so maybe photographing them triggers memories' Photograph: Nan Goldin

'They are wild and magical, as if from another planet' Photograph: Nan Goldin

'They haven't been socially conditioned yet, so they can scream and express how they feel publicly' Photograph: Nan Goldin

'When I am in a group of people, the children and I find each other's eyes, and end up laughing at the same, unspoken thing' Photograph: Nan Goldin

'Everybody came out of the body of a woman, and that should not be forgotten, or be frightening' Photograph: Nan Goldin

'It amazes me that there's a controversy over public breastfeeding, that it can be considered disgusting' Photograph: Nan Goldin

'I have included babies before they were born, like my pregnant friend laughing in the bath tub. She gave birth that night, after I left' Photograph: Nan Goldin

'I'm interested in the melancholy I see, and the way children retreat into their own world' Photograph: Nan Goldin

'There are a lot of pictures of Bruno, the boy with a temporary tattoo... I just found a new picture of him looking sad, which really touches me' Photograph: /Nan Goldin

'I'm interested in their relationships to their parents – whether it is obvious that they are close, or ambivalent' Photograph: Nan Goldin

'It's about hoping that my friends will bring up a new species of people' Photograph: Nan Goldin

'I like the ones where kids dress themselves up. Probably my favourite picture in the slideshow is of my goddaughter Klara, standing on a paint can singing, with scarves wrapped around her' Photograph: /Nan Goldin

'The child in camouflage was born a girl but chose to grow up as a boy, then changed again at 15' Photograph: Nan Goldin

'That little one peeping through the hole reminds me so much of myself, hiding but wanting to see' Photograph: Nan Goldin