Transformer shows banned video, as debate over museum's censorship rages

The controversial work of video art that the National Portrait Gallery removed from its current exhibition on gender identity reappeared elsewhere on Wednesday: in the front window of the Transformer Gallery near Logan Circle. As an act of defiance, the gallery president, puzzled and angered like many in Washington's art community, presented "A Fire in My Belly" by David Wojnarowicz to any passersby on P Street NW. James Alefantis, the Transformer president, is showing a continuous loop of the banned four-minute artwork - with a few seconds in which ants crawl across a crucifix - and promised to run it for 24 hours. Late Wednesday, the gallery had secured rights from Tom Rauffenbart, executor of the artist's estate, to show the entire 30-minute original version of the artwork, which it will begin screening Thursday. "I only wish David were alive, he would tear these censors apart," Rauffenbart said.