Mr Mitzevich,
How dare you censor a work of art by removing the Palestinian flag? In altering a tapestry by the Pacific Indigenous collective SaVĀge K’lub, you have insulted the artists and traduced the NGA’s stated objective to “deepen our understanding of the human condition and the world we live in”. And you have made our leading visual arts institution complicit in an attempt to eradicate all reference to Palestine and the Palestinian people.
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 “align to the National Cultural Policy Revive: a place for every story, a story for every place by embedding First Nations culture at the heart of our creative program…, encouraging and presenting a diverse range of perspectives [and] elevating the profile of art and artists in our society”.
Instead you have censored a group of First Nations artists, indicated that there is no “place” for Palestine in the world and made it clear that the “diverse range of perspectives” must not include the perspective of those opposed to the genocidal actions of the Israeli state.
Curator of the exhibition, New Zealand-based Rosanna Raymond, has said that the collective was “very surprised and concerned” by a directive from your management, citing “security concerns”, that they must cover up the symbols of Palestine or remove the work altogether. “As Indigenous people,” she continued, “we are very acutely aware of the damage of colonialism and neo-colonialism, and what it looks like, but we haven’t 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.”
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 “the most modern forms of thinking”. Gough Whitlam, who ensured the funding of the institution, said on taking office in 1972 that it must “fully represent not only the best Australian art, but the art of other civilisations in our region and throughout the world”.
Your claim of “security concerns” is entirely spurious. Who would attack such a work? Do you not have security precisely to ensure the safety of works of art?
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.
The exhibition by SaVĀge K’lub is entitled Te Paepae Aora’i – Where the Gods Cannot be Fooled. Well, the people of Australia cannot be fooled either. The NGA is our Gallery, and you cannot misuse it in this way to appease the Zionist lobby or whoever else is in your ear.
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.
Judith White, arts writer, former executive director of the Art Gallery Society of New South Wales
20 February 2025
Terrific letter Judith. Good on you.
Great letter Judith! You always have a wonderful way with words! I hope it makes an impact!!!
Outrageous behaviour from the NGA & a great letter (I hope the director has been sent a copy of it directly.)
Yes, letter has been sent to the director.
Thank you for writing this Judith. It’s a dark time indeed.
Thinking of you and all our good former colleagues xxx
A perfect response to an egregious act. Nice work Judith.
First rate indictment of an appalling act of cowardice motivated by conformity with that destructive, poisonous Zionist lobby. Stuart Rees, Professor Emeritus, Univ. of Sydney
Hear hear.
Thank you for a wonderful letter. I have complained to the gallery for this outrageous censorship
100% agree Judith! We cannot allow the erasure and censorship of Palestine and the Palestinian people’s right! The mere existence of the flag is not a security threat! I’m disgusted by the NGA and horrified that this can happen in Australia
Thank you Judith for your letter on this pre-emptive artistic and political censorship by the NGA, and for your previous post on the termination of Khaled Sabsabi’s commission for the Venice Biennale, with curator Michael Dagostino. It is inexplicable the gallery management felt they couldn’t manage the miniscule risk of blowback, and were unwilling to defend the merits of the work. It is not illegal to display the Palestinian flag in this country, or use the words ‘free Palestine’. Where has this cowering culture of timidity come from, when the most senior leaders in the arts have reflexively censored a work of art, and been unwilling to back an independent rigorous selection process for the Venice Biennale, a process that has been a mainstay of the Australia Council’s integrity since it was founded? If the current mob of cultural leaders were in the job fifty years ago would they have crumpled at the first hostile media spray over the acquisition of Blue Poles and rescinded the purchase?
Excellent comment, Kylie – thank you.
Thank you for that telling letter, Judith. Excellent work.
Good on you for calling this out. An excellent letter.
Thank you Judith for once again calling out the outrageous and appalling decline of support for the arts and artists we’re witnessing in Australia today. And shame on the many many national, state and regional arts bodies who should be standing united to decry these recent acts of censorship! Silence, whatever their rationale, is only going to enable further egregious acts, surely.
Very true, Trisha. No one should stand aside.