Jul 20, 2018
This week we bring you a special and timely conversation between
our very own Dana Bassett and Dr. Daniel Berger recorded at Iceberg
Projects where Berger has curated the current show, “Flesh of My
Flesh,” an exhibition of painting, film, sculpture, photography and
print work by the late David Wojnarowicz. Dan and Dana discuss
Wojnarowicz’s aesthetic and historical legacy, the AIDS crisis, and
the upcoming screening of Films by David Wojnarowicz and Friends,
featuring “Silence=Death.”
Wojnarowicz’s screening takes place this Sunday, July 22nd at
Northwestern’s Block Museum. More information can be found
here: http://icebergchicago.com/
“Flesh of My Flesh” is on view at Iceberg Projects until August
4th.
Full text of the writing referenced in this interview:
When I put my hands on your body on your flesh I feel the history
of that body. Not just the beginning of its forming in that distant
lake but all the way beyond its ending. I feel the warmth and
texture and simultaneously I see the flesh unwrap from the layers
of fat and disappear. I see the fat disappear from the muscle. I
see the muscle disappearing from around the organs and detaching
iself from the bones. I see the organs gradually fade into
transparency leaving a gleaming skeleton gleaming like ivory that
slowly resolves until it becomes dust. I am consumed in the sense
of your weight the way your flesh occupies momentary space the
fullness of it beneath my palms. I am amazed at how perfectly your
body fits to the curves of my hands. If I could attach our blood
vessels so we could become each other I would. If I could attach
our blood vessels in order to anchor you to the earth to this
present time I would. If I could open up your body and slip inside
your skin and look out your eyes and forever have my lips fused
with yours I would. It makes me weep to feel the history of your
flesh beneath my hands in a time of so much loss. It makes me weep
to feel the movement of your flesh beneath my palms as you twist
and turn over to one side to create a series of gestures to reach
up around my neck to draw me nearer. All these memories will be
lost in time like tears in the rain.