Art is pure, but politics is dirty. It was therefore deeply disappointing last November when, rather than shielding art from politics, the Smithsonian Institution bowed to political winds and pulled “A Fire in My Belly” from a National Portrait Gallery exhibition.
And yet with “A Fire in My Belly” part of a new installation at the Ackland, there’s confidence that museums dedicated to furthering the public mission of education and exposure to ideas expressed through art can fulfill their mission.
It’s also an opportunity for students of all persuasions to see controversial art and make an assessment for themselves.
Last November, incoming House Speaker Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio and incoming majority leader Rep. Eric Cantor R-Va. wielded their impending power of the purse to force the Smithsonian to remove the film.
Part of the film portrays ants crawling over a crucifix. The Smithsonian saw it as a surrealistic video expressing the suffering and decay of those afflicted with AIDS.
But the Catholic League (which is not part of the Catholic Church) saw it as anti-religious — as if religion should be free from critical evaluation.
Nothing can fix the fact that an intriguing work of art was made the victim of a power play by politicians looking to pander to a conservative base.
But museums like Ackland that bring this work closer to the public can go far in generating the proper discourse that should always have been provoked.
Ackland is framing this installation in the context of a broader examination of “issues of censorship, artists’ rights and the power of images to provoke and inspire.”
