December 2010: Protests erupt after David’s film is removed from the National Portrait Gallery

Dec. 1, 2010: Demonstrations erupt outside the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery in Washington D.C. following removal of David’s unfinished film, “A Fire in My Belly,”  from the exhibition “Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture.” Protesters holding masks of both Arthur Rimbaud and David (with lips stitched shut) react to the film’s removal for being characterized as a form of hate speech and “anti-Catholic.”

Catholic League president Bill Donohue tells The New York Times, “I’m not going to buy the argument that this is some statement about some poor guy dying of AIDS.” And Representative Jack Kingston of Georgia calls it “in-your-face perversion paid for by tax dollars.” Martin E. Sullivan, the director of the National Portrait Gallery, explains: “The piece, which was made in the late ’80s in Mexico, had much more to do with the reality of the suffering of the AIDS epidemic in Latin American culture, with that vivid, colorful imagery and sometimes shocking metaphors.” The Times’ critic Holland Cotter later writes a thoughtful article explaining David’s intent behind the film: “As Ants Crawl Over Crucifix, Dead Artist Is Assailed Again.”