A Fire in My Belly

Abstract

A Fire in My Belly (A Work in Progress) was David Wojnarowicz’s large-scale film project that he undertook in the late 1980s. Filmed in three separate locations -- Mexico City, San Juan, and New York City -- A Fire in My Belly is divided into two different versions. Each film addresses themes regarding spirituality, violence, and control and makes up a total of 21 minutes of footage. Analyzing through both formalist and social art history lenses, this paper touches upon the function of analog film, how the medium led to A Fire in My Belly’s survival into the digital age, and its eventual connection to the AIDS crisis of the 1980s and 1990s. Furthermore, this paper analyzes Wojnarowicz’s filming style through his choice of zoom-in angles, collage-like editing, and provocative and gory imagery.