Dirty encounters: Pier Paolo Pasolini’s legacy in David Wojnarowicz’s work

Abstract

One of the last works by celebrated New York artist David Wojnarowicz is a black-and-white photograph of the artist’s face buried in the dirt. The photograph was staged in 1991, less than one year before the artist died of AIDS. Until now, Wojnarowicz’s photograph has been interpreted as the image of a burial, a reference to the artist’s impending death. This article compares Wojnarowicz’s photo to one of the last scenes of Pier Paolo Pasolini’s Teorema (1968). The case of (Untitled) Face in Dirt and Teorema indicates the existence of a potentially complex relationship between Wojnarowicz and Pasolini, two queer artists who used provocation and sexual transgression to criticize capitalist society through their work. In this article, this complex relationship is explored to show, on the one hand, the import of Pasolini’s cinematographic and literary work in New York’s underground art scene of the 1980s. On the other, it demonstrates that Wojnarowicz’s last work conveys a positive message about his artistic legacy and future.