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RE: 'Disgusting display': Aurora Cultural Centre exhibit closes amid antisemitism concerns, Sept. 26, 2024; and Aurora Cultural Centre permanently closes exhibit amid antisemitism concerns, Oct. 7, 2024.
As one of the artists targeted with false accusations of antisemitism, I feel the need to speak up since the journalist in question has not reached out to us for comment since this all began.
Our exhibition at the Aurora Cultural Centre featured six artists and was called Expressions of Critical Thought. Ironically, it was shut down for that very reason.
All the artworks were approved by the ACC before the opening and the show was supposed to be on for two months, with scheduled artist talks. The mere mention of Palestine in two out of six works were deemed anti-Jewish by parties unknown to us. The ACC’s overreaction and decision to shut down the entire show due to these baseless claims is utterly baffling.
Our works have nothing to do with Judaism or Jewish people. They merely referenced Palestine — in my case, marginally on a map in an investigative work about the antiquities black market of ancient Iraqi artifacts. The other work had images of solidarity with Palestinians as an occupied people, among many other topics in a participatory painting project. How does this constitute “artwork calling for my death” as one complainant put it in the article?
Equating support for Palestine with anti-Jewish sentiment is not only wrong, it is dangerous. In these trying times, it seems like politically motivated erasure. The complainants could have just engaged with us as artists in an honest dialogue instead of trying to silence us. That was the whole point of the show.
What happened to us is part of a wider, worrying phenomenon that’s permeating the art world across Canada and the U.S. in the last year. It is alarming that fascistic measures of censorship are being exacted on artists who simply acknowledge Palestine in their work. We have to ask ourselves: Why and how is this happening?
Finally, we are grateful to those who submitted letters to the editor to AuroraToday to defend us. We appreciate the editor’s decision to publish their letters. This is what freedom of speech in a democratic society should look like.
Hala Alsalman
Toronto
