A stirring reflection on the too-short life of David Wojnarowicz, one of the most important artists and activists of the AIDs crisis. A thoughtful, moving reminder of not just what we’ve lost, but who we’ve lost.
If I die of AIDS – forget burial – just drop my body on the steps of the F.D.A.
Screened as part of NZIFF 2021
Wojnarowicz: Fuck You Faggot Fucker 2020
If only we could all have a statement as succinct and defining as “I’m not gay as in I love you, I’m queer as in fuck off” to sum us up. The sentiment is uttered midway through Wojnarowicz: Fuck You Faggot Fucker, a new documentary about David Wojnarowicz, one of the most famous artists and activists that the world lost during the height of the AIDS crisis.
Telling the story of Wojnarowicz’s life is no easy feat, given that he was a man whose life was as messy as his art. In the three decades since his passing, the hundreds of artworks that he made (including sculpture, installations, music, street art, film and exhibits at the Whitney Museum of American Art) continue to provoke and intrigue.
Art, writings and Wojnarowicz’s archives form the basis of the film; the artist’s own voice, heard in taped recordings, animates and provides just as much of a stirring reflection on his work as commentary from his contemporaries, like Fran Lebowitz, does.
Wojnarowicz: Fuck You Faggot Fucker is a gift: a moving reminder of what we’ve lost, but more importantly, who we’ve lost. The hundreds of works Wojnarowicz created are captured in great detail here, but we should have had thousands more. — Sam Brooks
“Wojnarowicz is an artist who created some of the most poignant, hauntingly beautiful images of the late 20th century, if not the entire century. They transfix, stopping you in your tracks and demanding deeper thinking about the sociopolitical issues he is addressing.” — Maximilíano Durón, Artnews