Kiki Smith and David Wojnarowicz met outside the New York alternative art space, White Columns, in 1981; Wojnarowicz described to Smith a mural project he was doing at the piers and invited her, on the spot, to contribute. “We immediately became best friends the first day we met. I spent twenty zillion hours all the time with him,” Smith recalled in an interview with Sylvère Lotringer. Commenting on the importance of their friendship, Smith added: “For me he was the first person who came from outside of my life and was truly supportive: he was tremendously supportive of me and, I think, for lots of other artists. It was totally meaningful for me.” The body—an important theme in the oeuvres of both artists, whether examined from a biological or a societal perspective—is also the common thread between Smith’s installation piece, Silent Work, and Wojnarowicz’s photograph, Untitled (face in dirt), both from the early 1990s.