In 2010, filmmaker Bart Everly produced and edited the 4.16 minute version of the unfinished work "A Fire in My Belly" by David Wojnarowicz for the exhibition "Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture" held at the National Portrait Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. (26 October 2010 - 13 February 2011), under the direction of exhibition Curator, Jonathan David Katz, and with permission of the Wojnarowicz Estate.
This 4.16 minute version of "A Fire in My Belly", true to Wojnarowicz' original imagery (though not order of sequence), personal notes, and papers, became the subject of public controversy, and was removed from the National Portrait Gallery exhibit on 30 November 2010, a decision about which a panel of experts appointed by the Smithsonian Board of Regents later expressed regret: "In the absence of actual error, changes to exhibitions should not be made once an exhibition opens without meaningful consultation with the Curator, Director, Secretary and the leadership of the Board of Regents." (Hugh Ryan, "About Face: How Eleven Seconds of Film Endangered the Smithsonian", Critical Read, 17 May 2016.)
This 4.16 minute version of "A Fire in My Belly", true to Wojnarowicz' original imagery (though not order of sequence), personal notes, and papers, became the subject of public controversy, and was removed from the National Portrait Gallery exhibit on 30 November 2010, a decision about which a panel of experts appointed by the Smithsonian Board of Regents later expressed regret: "In the absence of actual error, changes to exhibitions should not be made once an exhibition opens without meaningful consultation with the Curator, Director, Secretary and the leadership of the Board of Regents." (Hugh Ryan, "About Face: How Eleven Seconds of Film Endangered the Smithsonian", Critical Read, 17 May 2016.)
What is known or referred to as "A Fire In My Belly" (1990) by David Wojnarowicz is called into question by Marvin Taylor and Brent Phillips of the Fales Library and Special Collections, Elmer Holmes Bobst Library, New York University: "[This version originally appeared in Rosa von Praunheim's film 'Silence = Death' (1989). The master footage for this version with the Diamanda Galas soundtrack is not in the David Wojnarowicz Papers at the Fales Library, nor is there any indication that Wojnarowicz created this version. It is debatable whether the piece included in von Praunhiem's film could be called 'A Fire in My Belly'. The most we can accurately say is that the footage was removed by Wojnarowicz from 'A Fire in My Belly' and given to Michael Lupetin for use in 'Silence = Death'.]" ("A Fire In My Belly Controversy", The David Wojnarowicz Knowledge Base (online), Artist Archives Initiative, New York University, as referenced on 18 March 2020.)