Gay and Lesbian Review Worldwide
>Trying to seed a culture war
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| Robert Rauschenberg @ The Rebel Artist |
Kat Long on art and censorship at The Smithsonian @ The Gay and Lesbian Review Worldwide.
In October 2010, the Smithsonian Institution corrected a decades-long oversight by staging the first major museum exhibition focused on GLBT American figurative art. Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture, at the National Portrait Gallery, met with critical acclaim and enthusiastic attendance—as well as an explosive controversy worthy of the “culture wars” of the late 1980’s.
When reactionary forces demanded the removal of David Wojnarowicz’s video “A Fire in My Belly”—and when the demand was met—many people were reminded of the controversy around a Robert Mapplethorpe retrospective in 1989 and the Corcoran Gallery of Art’s decision to cancel the exhibit. Both Mapplethorpe and Wojnarowicz were from New York, both focused their work in part on homoerotic imagery, and both eventually died of AIDS-related complications. And both controversies occurred in a Washington arts institution that succumbed to right-wing political pressure, notably from Republican politicians.
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Kat Long on Amazon Despite the unpleasant sense of déjà vu, there were some significant differences between 1989 and the current controversy. Yet the curators, art fans, and activists were left wondering if D.C.’s pre-eminent cultural institution and Congress had forgotten the fallout from the Mapplethorpe affair.
>Sailing to Antarctica
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Lucy Jane Bledsoe “Finding Myself in Antarctica” @ Gay and Lesbian Review Worldwide:
I’m on a ship, a small one built for the rigors of icy seas, not for transporting people comfortably, and so as it rocks and rolls, dips and surges, so does my stomach. We’re riding 25-foot waves, and explosions of salt water are smashing against the small porthole of my cabin. Eventually we get to our destination, where I’m unloaded with the rest of the cargo and a few other people. Here I am, at a station in Antarctica where I’ll be living for a couple of months with a group of scientists and their support staffs.
At least that’s the plan. I settle in. I make sure I come out to everyone, casually referring to my girlfriend back home—you know the drill—so that I can be myself. I make every effort to fit into the station, taking my turn scrubbing kitchen mats and going to movie night.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )A few days into my stay, another ship arrives with a team of paleontologists who want to look for dinosaur bones on an island off another shore of the continent. Logistical complications change the ship’s schedule, and my ride back to the tip of South America is canceled. My choices are to stay at the station for the entire season—four more months—or join the paleontologists on their expedition and ride home with them in six weeks. I choose the second option.
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