Beautiful People

Beautiful People (1988) was one of the last films David Wojnarowicz made before his death. The film follows his 3 Teens Kill 4 bandmate, Jesse Hultberg, as he makes himself up in drag and ventures out onto the streets of New York and then beyond the city limits to a quiet lakeside. The nostalgic, accepting tones of the film honours this dual identity- Wojnarowicz saw “drag queens as true revolutionaries who fuck with visual codes of gender.” Here, the artist is using a symbol of dual identity to observe, discuss and redefine gender definitions and expectations.