"Art is what makes life more interesting than art"

-Robert Filliou

Art and Censorship

(Image from CNN.com)

This is something I am extremely passionate about, and I feel the need to speak out about it.
Today, the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., removed David Wojnarowicz's video-portrait entitled "A Fire in My Belly" from the exhibition "Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture," because of a small scene depicting a crucifix covered in ants, which was apparently offensive to Christians and aroused "the ire of the Catholic League and politicians," as CNN reports.

(http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2010/12/01/video-of-crucifix-removed-from-gallery/)

As a student of art history, and someone not unfamiliar with exhibiting controversial or potentially offensive art, I understand that there are and have been works of art which have been considered transgressive, provocative and taboo. I also understand that museum space is, rightly, public space.

However, part of the mission of museums, curators and artists is to create and present art and exhibitions which challenge the public. An exhibition such as "Hide/Seek" is about questions of gender, sexuality and identity, and meant to facilitate expression and constructive dialogue. Censoring a work of art because it is offensive to some destroys any chance for learning and communication. Letting a knee-jerk reaction of fear lead to this type of censorship trivializes and does disservice to a work of art that has many more layers of meaning and content than one short provocative scene.

Furthermore, the public is done a disservice as well: I firmly believe that uncomfortable and "difficult" art can offer some of the most profound learning experiences for those who have the courage and freedom to confront their own discomfort and to experience a work of art in an informative and thoughtfully-curated exhibition such as this one.

Visitors to museums always have a choice: to engage with a work of art or to walk away. Because of this and every instance of censorship, the choice is no longer theirs to make.