Activist Quotes | The David Wojnarowicz Foundation

David Wojnarowicz holding tombstone at October 11, 1988 ACT UP “Seize Control of the FDA,” protest. Photo copyright and courtesy J. Scott Applewhite.

“I want to make somebody feel less alienated—that’s the most meaningful thing to me.”— David Wojnarowicz
(in conversation with photographer Nan Goldin, Interview, 1990)

Even before the loss of many friends to AIDS and David’s own HIV positive diagnosis, he identified with marginalized people everywhere. And used his platform as an artist and writer to lift them up.

“David’s voice, throughout his work, in all media, is clear, singular, monumental,” writes Elizabeth Hess in Aperture. “When David screamed we listened and the enemy shuddered.

Learn more about David’s activism through his thoughts and those of his peers.

“I think gestures are important on any level. People do what they can and sometimes can be aware of much more that they can do somewhere down the line.” —David Wojnarowicz, "Postcards from America: X-Rays from Hell," 1988

“David had the eloquence and the anger that was appropriate to the situation of having AIDS in our society. He had the talent and the capacity to apply an equal force back. ” —Kiki Smith, 1992

“[In Close to the Knives] Wojnarowicz explores all of his painful life experiences as a plea for all of us to become more compassionate and caring human beings. This isn't just David's story, it's our story, our nation's story. ” —Karen Finley, 1992

“It is exhausting, living in a population where people don’t speak up if what they witness doesn’t directly threaten them.” —David Wojnarowicz,1991

“David’s voice, throughout his work, in all media, is clear, singular, monumental. When David screamed we listened and the enemy shuddered.” —Elizabeth Hess, Aperture, 1994

“In his determination to make the private public, [Wojnarowicz] has also gone beyond specific thematic material to forge a unique combination of politics and spirituality, of the known and the unknown.” —Lucy Lippard, Art in America, 1990

“The work that anybody does as an artist—if it doesn’t reflect resistance then they’re helping a system of control become more perfect.” —David Wojnarowicz

“David Wojnarowicz ...was his own best chronicler and the epidemic’s visionary witness. Seeing the larger meaning of each life, each death, came so naturally to him. His paintings found the universe in a grain of sand.” —C. Carr, Village Voice 1996

“Art was [Wojnarowicz’s] way of witnessing. On some level, the work was about putting information out there, exposing what’s usually hidden and creating a cultural counterweight. Where the marginal are ignored, he would exalt them ... To him, it wasn’t politics, it was truth. ” —C. Carr, 1999

“Some of us are born with the cross hairs of a rifle scope printed on our backs or skulls.” —David Wojnarowicz, 1991

“[Wojnarowicz] identifies himself and ourselves with the buffalo, pushed into the unknown by forces we cannot control or even understand."” —U2 liner notes, 1992

David Wojnarowicz, Untitled (Buffalos), 1988–89. Gelatin silver print, 19 7/8 × 23 15/16 in.