What is worse than ignorance?
I’ve long wondered whether politicians take public transport. I suspect they’d be better at their jobs if they did. Now I must wonder whether politicians visit art galleries.
If they do, then last week* was at best an unthinking glitch, at worst, an intentionally polarising example of bad faith. If they don’t, then it’s either an embarrassment or a telling poverty of experience, and a sad indictment of our elected representatives.
If you’ve never been to an art gallery, or haven’t been lately, or you’re at risk of being too easily led into a cultural conversation that will expose your ignorance or hypocrisy, let me remind you what you’d find if you did.
In the art gallery, there it all is. Life, death and every imaginable iteration between (and beyond). Centuries upon centuries of the stuff of humankind.
Beauty, degradation, riches, humiliation, betrayal, defiance, poverty, love, horror, despotism, disembowelment. The uplifting and awe-inspiring, the bleak. Evil, enslavement, escape, darkness and light, eroticism, madness, truths and trauma. Icons, desecration, subjugation, mutation, geometry, perspective, rules and their disregard. Gods, devils, heathens and avengers. Sex in all its forms. Animals, seeds, stamens, forests and every kind of landscape. The real and unreal. Jesus. Baby Jesus. The blood of Jesus. More blood, guts, war, perpetrators, protagonists and innocent bystanders. Revolution and counter revolution. Violence, loneliness, suffering. Thieving, rape and pillage. Beasts, ogres, angels.
There it all is. In a non-political space, where we can confront, contemplate, critique; in a place where we can think and feel and engage with history and question the world we live in now. Where the artwork may move you, make you nauseous, leave you empty, draw you in. Where you’ll encounter virtue and vice but how we think about which is which might change with time or perspective. Where you as a free-thinking individual might interpret things differently to the collective. A place where we remain, vitally, human.
In hard times our humanity can be challenged. Following war, people will wonder what images make sense now, how words can convey meaning, what sounds we might bear to hear. The artist’s task is to find a way to forge ahead and do the difficult thing: respond, produce, generate, create. And for those of us who are unafraid to think, art in hard times helps prompt necessary questions, like: What will we accept? Who bestows power? Are these men mere mortals? Who gives images their importance? What is it we fear? How do we resist?
*Last week, artist Khaled Sabsabi along with curator Michael Dagostino, were uninvited as Australia’s representatives for the Venice Biennale in 2026.
Sabsabi has maintained an artistic practice for over 30 years, which is no small feat. He was born in Lebanon, lived through civil war and at 12 years of age migrated to Western Sydney. He got through high school, worked as a social worker, and lived through the early 2000s as an Australian Muslim. Sabsabi knows hard times.
His art is conceptual and I don’t pretend to understand it with any ease**. But he has an impressive depth and breadth of work that touches a number of disciplines and builds on extensive research (and often, collaboration). There was a lengthy official selection process prior to his appointment by a number of industry experts and it would have been a career-defining moment for Sabsabi to receive the invitation from Creative Australia. The original press release said:
“Their collaboration will bring an exhibition to the Australia Pavilion that hopes to build empathy and connection between all people.”
Then, in the space of six days, there was a reversal of the decision, fueled by political and media ignorance and hypocrisy that seemed to rest on the following:
1. Sabsabi’s past use of images of war and divisive figures in his art, and
2. His wish for peace in Palestine.
As for the first, um, please see “art” or “art gallery” or “what will I find in an art gallery?”. As for the second, ok, what human couldn’t want this? Need I state the obvious that peace in Palestine consequently cannot occur without peace in Israel, or for that matter, the Middle East? Who could not want this?
The Creative Australia press release said of its reversal: “A prolonged and divisive debate about the 2026 selection outcome poses an unacceptable risk to public support for Australia’s artistic community and could undermine our goal of bringing Australians together through art and creativity.”
But this is a dereliction of duty and a wilful retreat, rather than the leadership we desperately need. Creative Australia has bought into a bad faith debate. Would the country have it that the only kind of conversation we’re left with is the stuff you find in antisocial, antagonistic online spaces?
The conversation we need is exactly the kind that could occur in a creative and critical space, congregated around the kind of art that sparks difficult and intelligent questions, between those who truly care to find a path forward.
I imagine it will be difficult to reinstate Sabsabi and Dagostino in the current climate, and the Australian Pavilion in Venice may remain empty as a result. Let it be a cautionary tale and perhaps provide a space where people can discuss how this happened and why, and together come up with ways to better identify those who use wealth or power to sow discord and disunity, and where we should instead look to redraw lines of solidarity.
When our politicians and media repeatedly do a disservice to community cohesion, we must be hypervigilant and question why.
**It’s true I don’t understand Sabsabi’s work with any ease, and have no formal basis on which to review it, but I’ve possibly spent above average time engaging with, reading about and thinking about art, so if I was to make my own rudimentary assessment of the work ‘You’, on which so much of the Sabsabi criticism has hung, it would go like this:
“The repetition of the single image and looped audio track, triggers a resistance in the viewer to the methods of propagandists who deliver their messages with grandiose staging and populist claims. The image of Nasrallah is caustic, reminiscent of old film that has burned from overuse, the short religious verse and the crowd’s reception morphs into industrial white noise. Meaning is lost.”
Nothing near the "glorification" politicians and media were claiming.
Anyone who has read a profile of Nasrallah knows he was a divisive figure. He by no means enjoyed universal support by Lebanese people, Muslims, or even Shiite Muslims. Oh, and Sabsabi is Sufi, so for that and all the normal reasons, it’s unlikely he made the piece to glorify the guy. But of course, if someone with the connections (eg. a politician or member of the media) really wanted to know or get anywhere near any kind of truth, they could have also thought to call him up and ask.
What is worse than ignorance? When it's wilful...
*
Context
Original announcement:
https://creative.gov.au/news/media-releases/announcing-australias-artist-and-curator-for-the-2026-venice-biennale/
Reversal:
https://creative.gov.au/news/media-releases/venice-biennale-2026/
Khaled Sabsabi’s artist website:
https://khaledsabsabi.com/
Khaled Sabsabi’s dealer gallery:
https://milanigallery.com.au/news/khaled-sabsabi-1/
An artist statement on Sabsabi, by Sabsabi:
https://khaledsabsabi.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Khaled-Sabsabi-by-Khaled-Sabsabi-2016.pdf
Sabsabi’s contribution to covid-care:
https://doit.kaldorartprojects.org.au/#Khaled-Sabsabi
Other coverage of the announcement:
https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2025/02/07/khaled-sabsabi-to-represent-australia-at-the-2026-venice-biennale
Other coverage of the reversal:
https://theconversation.com/a-shameful-call-by-creative-australia-the-arts-community-reacts-to-khaled-sabsabi-being-dropped-from-the-venice-biennale-249941
Opinion:
https://limelight-arts.com.au/features/khaled-sabsabi-creative-australia-and-the-fight-for-artistic-freedom/
https://www.cultureheist.com.au/2025/02/14/the-betrayal-of-creative-australia/
Learn something about Nasrallah:
https://apnews.com/article/obituary-nasrallah-lebanon-israel-2da3789a02fd4e2e88511a7f59174d19
*
A version of this letter has been sent to:
The Hon Tony Burke MP, Minister for the Arts (Labor): https://www.aph.gov.au/Senators_and_Members/Contact_Senator_or_Member?MPID=DYW
Claire Chandler, Senator and Shadow Minister for the Arts (Liberal): senator.chandler@aph.gov.au
Adrian Collette, CEO Creative Australia: adrian.collette@creative.gov.au