David Wojnarowicz: History Keeps Me Awake at Night
July 13–Sept 30, 2018
Gallery 11
11
Wojnarowicz’s work concerns itself with the mechanisms, politics, and manipulations of power that make some lives visible and others not. The will to make bodies present—the compulsion to clear a space for queer representations not commonly seen through language and image—was threaded throughout his work, exacerbated by the AIDS crisis, and crystallized in his work. Untitled (One Day This Kid . . . ) (1990–91) is perhaps Wojnarowicz’s best-known work. Black script shapes the boundary of a boy’s body—a boy whom we know, with his high forehead, prominent teeth, and electric eyes, is Wojnarowicz as a child. He sits for what we assume is a school picture, and he’s no older than eight. The text that surrounds him projects the child into a future scarred by abuse and homophobia. This artwork, like many by Wojnarowicz, has rightly come to embody the spirit of protest, struggle, and resistance. Wojnarowicz died on July 22, 1992. By the end of that year, 38,044 others in New York had died from AIDS-related complications. In his essay “Postcards from America: X Rays from Hell,” Wojnarowicz states what is equally true of art and protest: “With enough gestures we can deafen the satellites and lift the curtains surrounding the control room.”
David Wojnarowicz (1954–1992), Untitled (ACT-UP), 1990
David Wojnarowicz (1954–1992), Untitled (Act-Up), 1990. Screenprint, 23 1/8 × 27 5/8 in. (58.7 x 70.2 cm) each. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; gift of Steven Johnson and Walter Sudol 2002.490a-b. © The Estate of David Wojnarowicz and P.P.O.W, New York
Wojnarowicz made this print in 1990 to benefit ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power). ACT UP was founded in 1987 and Wojnarowicz participated in its meetings and demonstrations, notably the October 11, 1988, action at the headquarters of the Food and Drug Administration in Rockville, Maryland, protesting the agency’s slow pace of drug approval. Wojnarowicz painted the back of his jean jacket to read: IF I DIE OF AIDS—FORGET BURIAL—JUST DROP MY BODY ON THE STEPS OF THE F.D.A.
As early as 1988, ACT UP used the rallying cry “the AIDS crisis is not over” to keep HIV and AIDS in the forefront of politics and culture. HIV and AIDS continue to affect individuals and communities throughout the world, disproportionately people of color. On the evening of Friday, July 27, 2018, members of ACT UP New York staged an action in the Whitney’s galleries to reassert that AIDS is not history. Members carried placards with articles and information pertaining to the ongoing HIV and AIDS pandemic.