I have been reflecting upon what is for me the reason to be in art school and to make art in the first place, and a big part is to respond to what outrages me and to do something about it. With this urge to create social change with art in mind, I thought of the word activism, which inspired me to find an artist to write about, I chose David Wojnarowicz. He was born in 1954 in New Jersey. His pieces ranged from photography, painting, music, film, sculpture, and writing. Wojnarowicz was influenced by the graffiti culture, no wave music, conceptual photography, performance, and neo-expressionist painting. He became an activist on the AIDS crisis, himself been a gay man with AIDS. In his work, he talked about the loss of those close to him, about love, religion, and sex (mostly in the queer community).
Here are some of his pieces:
Untitled (One Day This Kid . . .), 1990–91
https://whitney.org/Exhibitions/DavidWojnarowicz
Untitled (Act-Up), 1990.
https://whitney.org/Exhibitions/DavidWojnarowicz
Untitled, from the Sex Series (For Marion Scemama), 1989.
https://whitney.org/Exhibitions/DavidWojnarowicz#exhibition-artworks
I Feel A Vague Nausea, 1990.
https://whitney.org/Exhibitions/DavidWojnarowicz