Bill Donahue is at it again. Our friends at the Washington Post give us the scoop:
Officials at the National Portrait Gallery on Tuesday removed a work of video art depicting Christ with ants crawling over him after complaints from a Catholic organization and members of Congress.
The four-minute video, created by the late artist David Wojnarowicz, had been on exhibit since Oct. 30 as part of a show on sexual difference in American portraiture.
The piece was called “hate speech” by Catholic League president William Donohue and a misuse of taxpayer money by a spokesman for Rep. John A. Boehner (R-Ohio), the presumptive incoming House speaker.
So let’s think about this a bit more deeply…
The exhibit in question is about homosexuality, which I fear is the real reason Mr. Donohue and some politicians don’t want it around. That being said, in the video they have a crucifix with ants crawling over the corpus. That certainly is a harsh image to view but I don’t think the intent is to piss Catholics off. Rather it is being used to symbolize the excruciating suffering that AIDS victims have been through. It is a very typical in Latin-American culture to create an image of Christ who suffers with the people. Has Mr. Donohue ever been to Latin America? I hope not, because he’d be offended at all of their museums.
And perhaps being offended is the point. Art is meant to shock us into contemplation at times. Shouldn’t we be offended that people are dying of AIDS, especially on this World AIDS day? Shouldn’t we be offended that people are left to die in the streets, including children I might add, because they are facing dreaded diseases? I’ve seen the children who have been left on the side of the road that Catholic organizations like Mustard Seed Communities and others come and pick up and try to provide care for. However, many are left in the garbage dump–literally. Many can’t be cared for by their families and to care for them would lead them into starvation. It’s a Catch-22 for many.
A quick story: Carlos was a young boy who was Down’s Syndrome. He was a rambunctious child but one who just wanted to be loved. He somehow knew all the words of the mass and prayed them daily with the priest and his friends at the orphanage, Hogar Belen. When Carlos was found he was dressed very nicely and given a knapsack and simply left in the streets in the hopes that someone would take pity on him. We believe he was in the streets for a few weeks when Hogar Belen found him. They cleaned him up and gave him a home and good food. But they could never wrestle away his knapsack from him. He’d even sleep with it. What was so precious that was inside that Carlos would defend so dearly?
One night a worker was able to remove the knapsack from Carlos’ bed. Upon opening it, they found fruit, bread and other items of food. Carlos was afraid that one day there wouldn’t be any food for him, much like there wasn’t any food for him on the streets. A smart little boy who was filled with fear of hunger and filled with the idea that he would not and could not be loved forever.
Bugs often crawl all over kids like Carlos. And I’m sure that they crawl over AIDS patients, especially homosexuals who have been ostracized by a machisimo society that looks down on them. People are left on the streets to die, much as Christ was left in the town square and would have been eaten by birds of prey if Joseph of Aramithea didn’t come and ask for his body.
Do we even care? Do we need artists to remind us that we neglect people? What really is bothering Mr. Donohue and others? Is it simply that they are offended by the neglect that artists have for religious symbols? Perhaps–and that might well be a good point. We can raise awareness hundreds of other ways about the plight of the poor.
But we might very well need to be shocked. Are we shocked that the King of Kings was put into a feeding trough for animals? Should we be offended that stinky cows with ticks and mites and God knows what else would stick their faces in the bed that held the Christ-child?
No, I’m afraid we’re not. We place the manger in our homes and in public squares until someone cries out their offense at our display of religiosity.
So why do we place limits on someone else’s image of a suffering servant?
Oh that’s right…he’s gay.