David Wojnarowicz with in-progress Metamorphosis heads, Eric Kroll, 1984
"In 1984, David Wojnarowicz opened his first solo exhibition at Civilian Warfare in New York’s East Village. Along one wall was a series of 23 heads, collectively titled Metamorphosis, situated on shelves above a painted bulls-eye, a stark reminder of a firing line wall.
These alien faces, representing the 23 pairs of chromosomes in the human DNA, provided allegories of the atrocities that were being committed during the ongoing conflicts throughout Central and South America. Wojnarowicz had been deeply troubled by the human rights violations that had become part of the Contra War in Nicaragua, the Civil War in El Salvador and the Dirty War in Argentina. He saw masses being oppressed and abused as the ruling classes struggled to gain or maintain power in the regions. His series emphasizes the helpless in these societies, the outsiders, and asks what happens to them. As he explained it, Metamorphosis is meant be an “evolution of consciousness”.
