National Portrait Gallery Removes Video Criticized for Religious Imagery [View All]

Source: NY Times

National Portrait Gallery Removes Video Criticized for Religious Imagery

By DAVE ITZKOFF

The National Portrait Gallery of the Smithsonian in Washington removed a video from one of its exhibitions and apologized for its contents after the video was criticized by the Catholic League and members of the House of Representatives for being offensive to Christians.

The video, called “A Fire in My Belly,” was created by David Wojnarowicz and was being shown as part of an exhibition called “Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture.” The exhibition, which opened on Oct. 30, addresses issues of sexual and gender identity and bills itself as “the first major museum exhibition to focus on sexual difference in the making of modern American portraiture,” according to the museum’s Web site.

Mr. Wojnarowicz, who died of AIDS in 1992, made the video in the 1980s. Among the imagery that he uses to depict the suffering of an AIDS patient is a scene of ants crawling on a crucifix. In a telephone interview, Bill Donohue, the president of the Catholic League, said “A Fire in My Belly” was a form of hate speech.

“It would jump out at people if they had ants crawling all over the body of Mohammed,” said Mr. Donohue, who has criticized the institution for displaying works by other artists he considers anti-Catholic, “except that they wouldn’t do it, of course, for obvious reasons.”

He added: “I’m not going to buy the argument that this is some statement about some poor guy dying of AIDS. Was this supposed to be a Christmas present to Catholics?”

Mr. Donohue said it would be appropriate for the federal government to cut its funding of art institutions like the Smithsonian in these circumstances.

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