Photo courtesy of Max Middle from the Apartment613 Flickr Group
You may have heard that the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. has been recently embroiled in controversy over their decision to give in to demands from Republican congressmen and the Catholic League and remove the film A Fire in My Belly. The film, which is said to depict a cross covered in ants – and thus has conservative religious groups in a tizzy – was to appear in the exhibition Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture at the National Portrait Gallery.
Local free speech advocates and censorship-haters should not fret, however! In response to the Smithsonian NOT displaying the film, Gallery 101 and The Village will be co-hosting a screening this Saturday night. The piece will screen twice – once at 7:30pm and once at 8.
The Bank Street gallery is just one of a growing number of organizations protesting the move by the Smithsonian by hosting screenings. It’s such sweet revenge that censorship has a way of making things ever more popular and available. Admission is a suggested $5 donation to the AIDS Committee of Ottawa.
