David Wojnarowicz with Tom Warren, Self-Portrait of David Wojnarowicz, 1983–84. Acrylic and collaged paper on gelatin silver print, 60 × 40 in.
Our mission is to preserve, advance and honor the legacy and life of David Wojnarowicz—his art, his writings, his fierce commitment to social justice and the cause of persons with HIV/AIDS.
We intend to achieve these goals in a variety of ways that support David’s ideals.
The David Wojnarowicz Foundation will advance the understanding of his work through scholarship, exhibitions and publications. It will serve as a resource to all individuals seeking information and/or conducting research on the artist/writer/activist and his times, as well as creative projects that maintain the integrity of the artist’s vision while expanding that vision to other media like music, films, and plays.
The Foundation is created to inspire and foster a new generation of queer artists and writers to find their voice, pursue their truth and to continue the activism that so defined David Wojnarowicz’s life and art.
Through scholarships and grants, The Foundation will assist both organizations and individuals that support these ideals.
There are several ways you can get involved: Communicate—by signing up here for occasional Foundation announcements and updates. Activate—by following our Instagram, Celebrate—by learning more and making David’s legacy part of your conversations or Donate today.
Thank you for being part of the launch of The David Wojnarowicz Foundation and engaging with Foundation commitments and projects ahead.
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ACTIVATE
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![“[David] was known for his deep sense of parrhesia: an obligation to speak out, even at personal risk. ”
— Lauren O’Neill-Butler
In December, 2010, demonstrators—wearing masks of David's face with lips stitched shut— protested en masse throughout the country after the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery in Washington D.C. removed his unfinished film, “A Fire in My Belly,” from the exhibition “Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture.”
In defense of the film, critic Holland Cotter wrote: “That A Fire in My Belly is about spirituality, and about AIDS, is beyond doubt. To those caught up in the crisis, the worst years of the epidemic were like an extended Day of the Dead, a time of skulls and candles, corruption with promise of resurrection. Wojnarowicz was profoundly angry at a government that barely acknowledged the epidemic and at political forces that he believed used AIDS, and the art created in response, to demonize homosexuals.”
The Warhol Foundation, who financially supported “Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture” saw the removal of David’s film as “blatant censorship.” As a result they instituted an eight year ban against funding Smithsonian exhibitions which they lifted in 2019. “We believe that the ban has had its intended effect of promoting freedom of artistic expression at the national level,” Joel Wachs, the foundation’s president, said in the statement announcing the repeal.
Learn more about David’s activism in the new section of our website. Explore David's artwork, quotes, writing, and his own activist acts. See link in our profile.
Photo copyright and courtesy Theodore (Ted) Kerr.
@nationalgallery @smithsonian @hollandcotter @loneillbutler @warholfoundation @tedkerr @WojFound #DavidWojnarowicz #Wojnarowicz @wojfound](https://wojfound.org/wp-content/plugins/instagram-feed/img/placeholder.png)