2024 was a year of anti-Palestinian censorship and active art rebellion | Opinions

It’s hard for artists to think about the past year without thinking about Israel’s genocide in Gaza, which killed more than 45,000 Palestinians according to official figures, or more than 220,000 according to realistic estimates.

While art is something to be enjoyed, as it enriches every aspect of our lives, identity and culture, it is also essential to struggle. Art is powerful, it allows us to share emotions and stories with people around the world even if we don’t share a common language. Israel knows this and that is why it targets all those who have the talent and passion to convey messages about the terrible reality of Gaza.

Indeed, in its broader strategy of ethnic cleansing, Israel seems to have made a tactic of erasing Palestinians who inspire not only their own people, but all who lead the fight against injustice.

Painters, illustrators, poets, photographers, writers, designers… so many talented Palestinians have already been killed. It is up to us to ensure that they are not forgotten. They are not numbers, and their work should be remembered, always.

We need to tell people about Heba Zagout, a 39-year-old painter, poet and novelist, killed along with her two children in an Israeli airstrike. Her rich paintings of Palestinian women and the holy sites of Jerusalem were her way of addressing the “outside world”.

We must mention the name of the famous painter and art educator, Fathi Ghaben, whose beautiful works capturing the Palestinian resistance should be seen by all.

We have to teach words Refaat Alareerone of the most brilliant writers and teachers in Gaza who taught at the Islamic University of Gaza.

We need to talk about beauty in art Mahasen al-Khatibwho was killed in an Israeli airstrike on the Jabalia refugee camp. In her last illustration, she paid tribute to 19-year-old Shaban al-Dalou, who burned to death in the Israeli attack on the Al-Aqsa hospital compound.

We must also remind the world of the writer Yousef Dawwas, the novelist Noor al-din Hajjaj, the poet Muhammad Ahmed, the designer Not even al-Faranjiand photographer Majd Arandas.

However, ensuring that their stories and works are not erased also means that we must do something, wherever we are. Honoring these martyrs and celebrating their art requires us to go beyond words.

Some in the art world already know this. They joined the resistance within art spaces and ensured that Israeli crimes were condemned on their platforms. During the past year, there have been many acts of solidarity and courage.

When the Barbican Center in London canceled a lecture by Indian writer Pankaj Mishra on the genocide in Palestine in February, art collectors Lorenzo Legarda Leviste and Fahad Mayet pulled Loretta Pettway’s art from the center’s gallery.

“It is up to all of us to stand up against institutional violence and demand transparency and accountability in its light… We will never accept censorship, repression and racism within its walls,” they wrote.

In March, Egyptian visual artist Mohamed Abla returned his Goethe Medal, awarded for outstanding artistic achievement by Germany’s Goethe Institut, in protest against the German government’s complicity in the Israeli genocide.

Before the opening of the Venice Biennale in April, more than 24,000 artists from around the world – including previous Biennale participants and recipients of prestigious awards – signed an open letter calling on the organizers to exclude Israel from the event. One Israeli artist ultimately decided not to open her exhibition.

In September, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jhumpa Lahiri refused to accept an award from the Noguchi Museum in New York after it fired three employees for wearing Palestinian keffiyeh headscarves.

Earlier this month, the artist Jasleen Kaurwho received the prestigious Turner Prize, used her acceptance speech to condemn the genocide, calling for a free Palestine, an arms embargo and expressing solidarity with the Palestinians. She stood in solidarity with all those who protested outside Tate Britain in London, where the event took place, calling for it to divest itself of funds and projects linked to the Israeli government.

“I want to repeat the calls of the protesters outside. A protest made up of artists, cultural workers, Tate staff, students, with whom I stand firmly,” Kaur said. “This is not a radical request, this should not risk the artist’s career or safety.”

Despite these acts of solidarity, the vicious censorship, omission, repression and persecution of Palestine-related art has not abated over the past 12 months.

In January, the Indiana University Art Museum canceled an exhibition by Palestinian artist Samia Halaby.

In May, the city of Vail, Colorado canceled an artist residency by Danielle SeeWalker, a Native American artist who compared the plight of Palestinians to the suffering of Native Americans.

In July, the Royal Academy of Arts removed two artworks from its summer exhibition of young artists because they were linked to Israel’s war on Gaza. This happened after the pro-Israel Committee of Deputies of British Jews sent a letter regarding the artwork.

In November, the altonale festival in Hamburg canceled an exhibition of art made by children in Gaza after social media posts attacking it.

These are just a few examples of the massive censorship Palestinian art and artists and creators who have expressed solidarity with Palestine have faced over the past year. Silencing and whitewashing within cultural spaces also happened at the institutional level.

In the UK, Arts Council England (ACE) has warned arts institutions that “political statements” could potentially have a negative impact on funding deals. This was revealed following Equity’s Freedom of Information request, which also showed that ACE and the Department for Media, Culture and Sport (DMCS) even met about the “reputational risk relating to the conflict between Israel and Gaza”.

Some pointed out the contradiction of ACE’s actions, given that it openly expressed solidarity with Ukraine in 2022 after the Russian invasion. But it’s not just ACE that has shown blatant double standards in dealing with the carnage in Gaza.

The brilliant Palestinian artist Basma Alsharif perfectly articulated the institutional hypocrisy in her letter “To the Vain Neoliberal Art World”.

She wrote: “I hope this genocide finds you well. What exactly are you doing these days? Why did it take you months to write the statement, if you wrote it at all? Why didn’t you just shut down? Why can’t you boycott Israel the way you have Russia, the way you did apartheid in South Africa? Did you see the number of statements there? Open letters? A call to strike? How many hashtags have you all decided you’ll need to atone for your sins?”

There is no excuse for complacency regarding the Gaza genocide. The Palestinian people are facing extermination and it is our responsibility to them to ensure that our governments, institutions and industries do not stand still until they cut ties with Israel, stop silencing those who speak out against its crimes and commit to the liberation of Palestine.

I urge all those in the art world – whose pocket was so vividly represented in the protest outside the Tate when Kaur received the prize – to remember the words of the American writer James Baldwin:

“The true role of the artist, therefore, is to illuminate that darkness, to light the paths through that endless forest, so that in everything we do we do not lose sight of its purpose, which is, after all, to make the world a more human place to live.”

States and their institutions can use the race for funding and platforms to suppress our expressions of solidarity, but ultimately they will not win. Those who agree for their own personal and professional gains can try to convince themselves that this movement will die down and that the problem will be forgotten, but until Palestine is free – and it will happen – we keep the accounts, we record the absence, we listen to the silence about the Israeli genocide. in Gaza. It’s not too late to stand on the right side of history.

A happy new year will only be possible when the Palestinians and all those who face oppression are free.

The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of Al Jazeera.