David Wojnarowicz,1988
Wojnarowicz died in his Manhattan home on July 22, 1992 at the age of 37, from what his boyfriend, Tom Rauffenbart, confirmed was AIDS
His memoir — a series of essays and vignettes that starts out fairly experimental, at first reflecting on his life as a homeless teenage prostitute at truck stops and in Times Square, then progressively becoming more lucid and political as his partner dies from AIDS — is one of the best, most underrated American memoirs. It’s called Close to the Knives, one of my absolute favorite books of all time.
His longest, most serious partner was the artist Peter Hujar who helped him quit heroin and mentored him as an artist. The AIDS focused chapters are mainly centered around his rage and grief watching Peter and other friends die.
Wojnarowicz is also one of the artists featured in Olivia Laing’s excellent book The Lonely City. There’s also a documentary about him on Youtube. I really recommend looking into learning about him and his art, it’s very interesting and he was incredibly talented
