Merry F—ing Xmas
Abby Ohlheiser: Depending on your perspective, The National Portrait Gallery has either ruined Christmas or World AIDS Day (December 1) this year. On Wednesday, the institution caved in to “hours” of political pressure from conservative politicians and the Catholic League and removed a 4-minute excerpt of David Wojnarowotz’s piece, “Fire in my Belly” from its current exhibition “Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture.” Wojnarowotz, who died in 1992 from AIDS-related complications, created the work in response to the suffering and death of his friend and lover. The featured except contained 11 seconds of ants crawling on a crucifix. The Atlantic Wire has a round up of the coverage. There’s a different excerpt (containing the ants on Christ images) from the 30-minute work available on YouTube. (Text on the page reads the clip “may contain material flagged by YouTube’s user community that may be inappropriate for some users.”) Continue Reading →