New York Exhibitions Explore Memory, Loss and Queer Histories Through Peter Hujar's 1974 Diary and Contemporary Shows

Peter Hujar's 1974 conversation transcript, published in 2022 as 'Day', documents his mundane December 18 activities including phone calls from Susan Sontag and Ed Baynard, a visit from an Elle editor, and photographing Allen Ginsberg for The New York Times. That evening, after developing mediocre photos of Ginsberg, Hujar shared a $7 takeout with curator Vince Aletti. Microscope Gallery presented Narcisa Hirsch's 1970s film 'Muñecos', showing the artist distributing plastic baby dolls on 5th Avenue to critique Argentina's natalist policies. At Gern en Regalia, Sara Yukiko's 'XO Show' featured canvases printed with images from resale site Mercari, examining feminine fashion and toy listings. P.P.O.W. exhibited 'Hunter Reynolds / Dean Sameshima: Promiscuous Rage', showcasing Reynolds's 1990s photo-weavings made after a friend's AIDS death alongside Sameshima's text-based works with phrases like 'Anonymous Deviant'. Reynolds's 1992 'Dialogue Table 3, My First Year Out' displayed vintage paperbacks and Polaroids of undressed men. Novelist Stephen Koch notes in his introduction that real estate development and AIDS demolished New York's Downtown art scene from the late 1960s to mid-1990s.