Mr Mitzevich,<\/p>\n
How dare you censor a work of art by removing the Palestinian flag? In altering a tapestry by the Pacific Indigenous collective SaV\u0100ge K\u2019lub, you have insulted the artists and traduced the NGA\u2019s stated objective to \u201cdeepen our understanding of the human condition and the world we live in\u201d. And you have made our leading visual arts institution complicit in an attempt to eradicate all reference to Palestine and the Palestinian people.<\/p>\n
This would be an act of cultural vandalism wherever it occurred. But for it to happen in the National Gallery of Australia is nothing short of criminal. It makes a mockery of the Statement of Intent that the chair of your Council, Ryan Stokes, sent last year to Arts Minister Tony Burke, in which he promised to \u201calign to the National Cultural Policy Revive: a place for every story, a story for every place <\/em>by embedding First Nations culture at the heart of our creative program\u2026, encouraging and presenting a diverse range of perspectives [and] elevating the profile of art and artists in our society\u201d.<\/p>\n Instead you have censored a group of First Nations artists, indicated that there is no \u201cplace\u201d for Palestine in the world and made it clear that the \u201cdiverse range of perspectives\u201d must not include the perspective of those opposed to the genocidal actions of the Israeli state.<\/p>\n Curator of the exhibition, New Zealand-based Rosanna Raymond, has said that the collective was \u201cvery surprised and concerned\u201d by a directive from your management, citing \u201csecurity concerns\u201d, that they must cover up the symbols of Palestine or remove the work altogether. \u201cAs Indigenous people,\u201d she continued, \u201cwe are very acutely aware of the damage of colonialism and neo-colonialism, and what it looks like, but we haven\u2019t had to experience it in such a way in the 21st century as our brothers and sisters in Palestine, in West Papua and in the Congo.\u201d<\/p>\n The founders of the National Gallery on both sides of politics would be appalled by your action. Sir John Gorton, as the Prime Minister who announced the architectural competition for the building in 1968, wanted it to reflect \u201cthe most modern forms of thinking\u201d. Gough Whitlam, who ensured the funding of the institution, said on taking office in 1972 that it must \u201cfully represent not only the best Australian art, but the art of other civilisations in our region and throughout the world\u201d.<\/p>\n Your claim of \u201csecurity concerns\u201d is entirely spurious. Who would attack such a work? Do you not have security precisely to ensure the safety of works of art?<\/p>\n Your action comes on the heels of the appalling decision by Creative Australia to remove Khaled Sabsabi as chosen artist for the Australian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. It signals a dark and dangerous time for the visual arts in this country, which have until now done so much to elevate the cultural level of our society.<\/p>\n The exhibition by SaV\u0100ge K\u2019lub is entitled Te Paepae Aora\u2019i \u2013 Where the Gods Cannot be Fooled. <\/em>Well, the people of Australia cannot be fooled either. The NGA is our <\/em>Gallery, and you cannot misuse it in this way to appease the Zionist lobby or whoever else is in your ear.<\/p>\n You must immediately restore the tapestry to its original condition or go down in history as the director who introduced censorship and anti-Palestinian racism into the cherished institution of the National Gallery of Australia.<\/p>\n Judith White, arts writer, former executive director of the Art Gallery Society of New South Wales<\/em><\/p>\n 20 February 2025<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Mr Mitzevich, How dare you censor a work of art by removing the Palestinian flag? In altering a tapestry by the Pacific Indigenous collective SaV\u0100ge K\u2019lub, you have insulted the artists and traduced the NGA\u2019s stated objective to \u201cdeepen our understanding of the human condition […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13410,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cultureheist.com.au\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13409"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cultureheist.com.au\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cultureheist.com.au\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cultureheist.com.au\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cultureheist.com.au\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13409"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.cultureheist.com.au\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13409\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13413,"href":"https:\/\/www.cultureheist.com.au\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13409\/revisions\/13413"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cultureheist.com.au\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cultureheist.com.au\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13409"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cultureheist.com.au\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13409"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cultureheist.com.au\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}