Interpreting Art

A bit of controversy developing in DC after the National Portrait Gallery pulled a video from an exhibit exploring sexuality, in part due to pressure from Bill Donohue’s Catholic League.

The exhibit, Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture, is one of the more controversial exhibits for the Portrait Gallery, and incoming Speaker of the US House of Representatives John Boehner, himself Catholic, joined Donohue in criticizing the exhibit. This particular video, available on YouTube here (somewhat graphic), is called “Fire in the Belly.” Created by the late David Wojnarowicz, who died of AIDS related causes in 1992, is intended to highlight the suffering experienced by many living with and dying of the disease in the 1980s and 90s. There is much Christian imagery in the piece, and the scene causing much of the outrage involves ants crawling over a crucifix.

There are quite a few interpretations of the video. The Catholic League calls it, “hate speech” (Donohue’s full statement is here). Commentary in the Washington Post says that the video is, “Wojnarowicz’s reading of his piece puts it smack in the middle of the great tradition of using images of Christ to speak about the suffering of all mankind. There is a long, respectable history of showing hideously grisly images of Jesus – 17th-century sculptures in the National Gallery’s recent show of Spanish sacred art could not have been more gory or distressing – and Wojnarowicz’s video is nothing more than a relatively tepid reworking of that imagery, in modern terms.”

A news article in the Post suggests that the GOP controlled House may revisit federal funding of museums that sponsor controversial exhibits due to this, a discussion that both Boehner and Donohue welcome. If you watch the video, what do you see? Hate speech or suffering? Blatant disrespect of the faith or moving identification was the scourged and marginalized savior? A masterpiece or a series of disconnected images?