Iconic queer artist, author, and agitator #DavidWojnarowicz died 30 years ago today. He's been a major influence in my work since the mid-90s, and the direct inspiration for the Pop-Up Museum of Queer History, so I thought I'd do a little thread of my work about his work!
When DW's piece "A Fire In My Belly" was censored at @smithsoniannpg, it prompted me to (accidentally) found the Pop-Up Museum in protest - and also pushed me on a deep dive into the tangled origins of the piece (or is it pieces?) called A Fire In My Belly amazon.com/About-Face-Woj…
Soon, I wrote about Wojnarowicz's mysterious "Magic Box," which I see as a symbolic dictionary of his work and a conceptual playset for his visual language. This was one of my first pieces for @vice and an incredible collaboration with @matte_mag vice.com/en/article/5gk…
Through my work in his archive at @FalesLibrary, I was invited to be a scholar / advisor on the David Wojnarowicz Knowledge Base, an exploratory project on digitally mapping artist archives, done out of @nyu artistarchives.hosting.nyu.edu/Initiative/the…
All of this helped to lead to "The Unflinching Eye," an exhibition of DW's work that I co-curated for Fales - you can watch a panel talk on it here: vimeo.com/316647121
All that time in his archive showed me reams of unpublished work by DW, including tons of poetry, and I was fascinated by how it re-appeared in other forms throughout his career. @jeremylybarger at @PoetryFound let me explore the question: Was DW a poet? poetryfoundation.org/articles/15052…
Deeply diving into a singular artist or author is one of my favorite things to do. I know already that I'll return to Wojnarowicz again, at some point, and he'll have more to teach me. Thank you David for all that you have done, and all you continue to do through your legacy
"These are strange and dangerous times. Some of us are born with the cross hairs of a rifle scope printed on our backs or skulls. Sometimes it's a matter of thought, sometimes activity, and most times it's color." - David Wojnarowicz
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