December 14, 2010
A statement from directors of Seattle and Tacoma area art museums in response to the Smithsonian Institution’s National Portrait Gallery’s removal of artist David Wojnarowicz’s film from the exhibition Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture.
It is of grave concern that the Smithsonian Institution’s National Portrait Gallery, a major American art museum with a long history of public service in the arts, has been pressured into removing a work of art from its exhibition Hide/Seek.
More disturbing than the Smithsonian’s decision to remove this work of art is the cause: unwarranted and uninformed censorship from politicians and other public figures, many of whom, by their own admission, have seen neither the exhibition as a whole or this specific work.
We believe that freedom of expression is essential to the health and welfare of our communities and our nation. In this case, that takes the form of the rights and opportunities of art museums to present works of art that express different points of view.
Discouraging the exchange of ideas undermines the principles of freedom of expression, plurality and tolerance on which our nation was founded. This includes the forcible withdrawal of a work of art from within an exhibition—and the threatening of an institution’s funding sources.
The Smithsonian Institution is one of the nation's largest organizations dedicated to the dissemination and diffusion of knowledge—an essential element of democracy in America. We urge all citizens to continue to sustain and support the Smithsonian’s activities, without the political pressure that curtails freedom of speech.
Jo-Anne Birnie Dansker, Frye Art Museum
Derrick Cartwright, Seattle Art Museum
Tim Close, Museum of Glass
Mark Crawford and Stefano Catalani, Bellevue Art Museum
Stephanie Stebich, Tacoma Art Museum
Beth Takekawa, Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience
Barbara Thomas, Northwest African American Museum
Sylvia Wolf, Henry Art Gallery
