Old Ladies Rebellion Condemns Censorship at Smithsonian

Fire in My Belly by David Wojnarowicz, Diamanda Galas

RedTracker| Leading US art foundations are threatening to withdraw support from the National Portrait Gallery in Washington in what they view is an act of blatant censorship with the Smithsonian’s decision to remove a video from an exhibition about sexuality in portraiture.

This is the first time we’ve seen the video and its timeliness reminds us that America is on the verge of entering another McCarthy era mindset. We are all unclean, just like the women of Sudan.

The Warhol Foundation has notified the Smithsonian that unless the withdrawn artwork is put back into the exhibit, the Warhol Foundation, which donated almost $400,000 to the Smithsonian last year, will withdrawn all future support.

Joel Wachs, president of the foundation, wrote to the Smithsonian to say how proud his body had been to help create Hide/Seek, the first national exhibition to explore gay and lesbian depictions in portraiture. But he said that the decision to pull A Fire in My Belly was “blatant censorship” forced by bigots acting out of “ignorance, hatred and fear”. via The Guardian

The video was created by David Wojnarowicz, an artist from New York, who died of AIDS at age 37 in 1992.

‘A Fire in My Belly’ came under attack from Christian fundamentalists led by the Catholic League, who called it “hate speech”. And they objected to the 11 seconds of the four-minute video that showed Jesus on the cross being eaten by black ants, with comments broadcast on PBS. I watched that debate.

The Calamus Foundation, the other main backer of the exhibition, has written to the Smithsonian:

“our trust in the Smithsonian and the National Gallery to maintain the highest standards of independence, artistic integrity and free speech has been betrayed… Your action empowers the forces of discrimination, repression and homophobia the exhibition purports to challenge.”

In fact, now that we’ve listened to the video, we believe it to reresent the attitude of Christian fundamentalists today about homosexuality. It represents the attitude of most fundamentalists religion Christianity, Muslim and Jewish about the body. I can’t speak to Hinduism and Buddhisn.

It is exactly what is written all over the Internet, when fundamentalists are talking about physicality. If this is ‘hate speech’, then they preach ‘hate speech’ too. Words very similar to these are in the Bible and frequently are used to describe how unclean women are.via The Guardian

Read on after you’ve listened to the video. Anne

Bound Tightly By the Good Book & God’s Will Anne of Carversville

The provocative fashion editorial was shot by Herring & Herring, styed by Mykel C. Smith. Models in ‘Bound’ include: Damaris Lewis, Julia Goncharenko, Anais Pouliot and Clara Settje.

Corinthians 14:34-35

Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience as also saith the law. (34)

And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church. (35)

Genesis 3:16

Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.

Ecclesiastics 25:13

Give me any plague, but the plague of the heart: and any wickedness, but the wickedness of a woman.

Nahum 3:5-6

Behold, I am against thee, saith the LORD of hsots; and I will discover thy skirts upon thy face, and I will shew the nations thy nakedness, and the kingdoms thy shame. And I will cast abominable filth upon thee, and make the vile, and will set thee as gazingstock.

Job 14:1-4

Man that is born of a woman is of few days and full of trouble. (1)

He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not. (2)

And doth thou open thine eyes upon such an one, and bringest me into judgment with thee? (3)

Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Not one. (4)

With Love and Support to Our Sisters in Sudan, from the Old Ladies Rebellion:

Flogging of Sudanese women in Khartoum from Anne Enke on Vimeo.