Smith College Displays Work of Censored Smithsonian Artist in Protest

By Evan Hurst -


Elitists of the world, unite!  No, seriously, I’m really glad to see that other museums are pissed off that the Smithsonian caved to a bunch of prudish bigots in the removal of David Wojnarowicz’s work “Fire In My Belly.”  Smith College will be displaying another work from the late artist in their Museum of Art in solidarity and protest.  Here’s part of a statement from the Smith College Museum of Art:

Wojnarowicz produced A Fire in My Belly in 1987, shortly after his partner died of AIDS. His print, Untitled (One Day this Kid…) … was created three years later, when downtown New York City was still being decimated by the AIDS epidemic and conservative forces were fighting attempts to provide treatment and education on the grounds that homosexuals and homosexual activity were “immoral.”
The Smith College Museum of Art purchased Untitled (One Day this Kid…) with support from the Dorius/Spofford Fund for the Study of Civil Liberties and Freedom of Expression. The Fund honors former Smith faculty members Joel Dorius and Edward Spofford, dedicated teachers whose employment was terminated by the College in 1961, after it became known that they were homosexual.
Freedom of expression and tolerance are essential for the sustenance of open academic communities, and the rights of museums to present works of art from a variety of perspectives, free of the threat of censorship, must be preserved. The public has been denied access to one work by David Wojnarowicz. We hope that the exhibition of Untitled (One Day this Kid…) at the Smith College Museum of Art will serve as a reminder of our society’s obligation to confront the injustices of the past and to ensure that the discourse of the future is unfettered by inappropriate political pressure.

Here is the work they will be displaying. Wow.

-end-