In David Wojnarowicz’s Words

Andreas Sterzing, David Wojnarowicz (Silence=Death); New York, 1989. Image courtesy of the artist, the estate of David Wojnarowicz, and P·P·O·W.

“I discovered that making an object, whether it was a drawing or a story, meant making something that spoke even if I was silent,” David Wojnarowicz wrote in his renowned 1991 memoir Close to the Knives. Throughout his life, the artist, writer, and activist used art to express himself amidst societal oppression. Today, Wojnarowicz’s voice remains––powerful and resonant––long after his death. 

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This Saturday, September 14, would have been Wojnarowicz’s 70th birthday. To celebrate his legacy, the David Wojnarowicz Foundation––in collaboration with the art organization Visual AIDS, P.P.O.W, and the New York City AIDS Memorial––will present an evening of readings from the late artist’s posthumous collection of monologues published in 1997, The Waterfront Journals.

Andreas Sterzing, David Wojnarowicz (Sofa & Painting), 1983. Image courtesy of the artist, the estate of David Wojnarowicz, and P·P·O·W.

Culminating a week of events, the birthday celebration will begin at 5:00 p.m. at the New York City AIDS Memorial, located at St. Vincent’s Triangle in Greenwich Village. Wojnarowicz’s seminal body of fictionalized short stories, memories, and streams of consciousness will be animated by seven readers including artist Nayland Blake, poet Pamela Sneed, and artist James Romberger. 

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The readings will occur alongside a musical performance by the experimental art–song collective, Rimbaud Hattie, whose members include Wojnarowicz’s bandmates from 3 Teens Kill 4, as well as a new member, performance artist John Kelly. The tribute will continue with a candlelit walk to the LGBTQ Memorial at Hudson River Park, guiding the artist’s spirit to the memorial site to honor his life and work in a collective ceremony. 

Ivan Dalla Tana, Untitled (David Wojnarowicz on Hudson River Pier), 1983. Image courtesy of the Ivan Dalla Tana Archive.

In his two decades as a working artist, until his death in 1992, Wojnarowicz was incredibly prolific, with a collection of work spanning photography, performance art, graffiti, painting, prose, and film. Born in Redbank, New Jersey, he was predominantly self-taught. He began his career in the ’70s amidst the avant-garde art scene of downtown New York, where he spent many of his formative years on the streets of the city looking to escape an abusive home life. His oeuvre speaks to this personal anguish, and external forms of oppression, with a raging, incisive criticism. 

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As a queer artist, Wojnarowicz spent much of his career articulating the societal despotism he experienced in relation to his sexuality. After being diagnosed with HIV in the spring of 1988, his work became increasingly political. As he looked to address not only the pain of his illness, but also what he deemed a “diseased society,” he began to focus on collage, photography, and prose. In his 1989 essay Postcards from America: X-Rays from Hell, he observed: “My rage is really about the fact that when I was told that I’d contracted this virus it didn’t take me long to realize that I’d contracted a diseased society as well.” 

David Wojnarowicz, History Keeps Me Awake At Night, 1986. Image courtesy of the estate of David Wojnarowicz and P·P·O·W.

With passages from Wojnarowicz’s monologues read on Saturday, the artist’s blazing expression will continue to articulate his fight against marginalization and silence. “I’m acutely aware of myself alive and witnessing,” Wojnarowicz wrote in Close to the Knives, 1991. Even after death, we are able to hear Wojnarowicz’s inexorable commitment to personhood and identity.  

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David Wojnarowicz 70 Years starts at 5:00 p.m. on September 14 at the New York City AIDS Memorial at St. Vincent’s Triangle at 76 Greenwich Ave, New York, NY 10011.