{"id":778079,"date":"2026-05-06T20:52:16","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T20:52:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/778079\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T20:52:16","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T20:52:16","slug":"khaled-sabsabis-rocky-road-from-australia-to-the-biennale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/778079\/","title":{"rendered":"Khaled Sabsabi\u2019s Rocky Road From Australia to the Biennale"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"css-ac37hb evys1bk0\">The controversy centered on two earlier works, including \u201cYou,\u201d which was completed in 2007 and featured blurred imagery of Hassan Nasrallah, a former leader of Hezbollah. The work was in the collection of the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia since 2009 without complaint. <\/p>\n<p class=\"css-ac37hb evys1bk0\">After an article in The Australian voiced concerns that the works were divisive, a <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/artreview.com\/the-cancellation-of-khaled-sabsabi-reveals-creative-australia-conservative-turn-venice-biennale-golden-lion-antisemitism-michael-dagostino-opinion-amelia-winata\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">conservative senator<\/a>, Claire Chandler, brought the work up in parliament, suggesting it was evidence of Sabsabi promoting terrorism and antisemitism. \u201cWith such appalling antisemitism in our country,\u201d Chandler argued, \u201cwhy is the Albanese government allowing a person who highlights a terrorist leader in his artwork to represent Australia on the international stage at the Venice Biennale?\u201d Creative Australia held a board meeting and revoked the commission.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-ac37hb evys1bk0\">\u201cIn March 2025, Khaled\u2019s career looked in tatters,\u201d Simon Mordant recalled in a phone interview. Mordant, a philanthropist and former Venice Commissioner, publicly resigned as Australian Ambassador for the Biennale the night the commission was revoked. \u201cBut he is about to be celebrated as a hero in Venice,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-ac37hb evys1bk0\">After a <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/a-shameful-call-by-creative-australia-the-arts-community-reacts-to-khaled-sabsabi-being-dropped-from-the-venice-biennale-249941\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">widespread outcry<\/a> from the arts community, an independent review was held. It ultimately identified missteps in the Creative Australia decision, and the organization apologized to the artist and curator.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-ac37hb evys1bk0\">Elizabeth Ann Macgregor, who directed the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia for more than two decades and first encountered Sabsabi when he was a community worker, was among the most vocal defenders. \u201cThe way he was described, the way they insinuated he was supporting terrorism, it was just despicable,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-ac37hb evys1bk0\">\u201cHis whole philosophy is about unifying communities and trying to create harmony. It\u2019s how he lives, and that\u2019s how his art is,\u201d Macgregor said. \u201cFor those who say we shouldn\u2019t have chosen an artist from the Middle East at this particular point in time, well, if not now, when?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The controversy centered on two earlier works, including \u201cYou,\u201d which was completed in 2007 and featured blurred imagery&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":778080,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[1037,648,1032,4740,155799,1033,171,34132,318670,13192,151447,257284,318669,207717,67,132,68,27443],"class_list":{"0":"post-778079","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-art","9":"tag-arts","10":"tag-arts-and-design","11":"tag-australia","12":"tag-content-type-personal-profile","13":"tag-design","14":"tag-entertainment","15":"tag-hassan","16":"tag-khaled","17":"tag-lebanon","18":"tag-muslims-and-islam","19":"tag-nasrallah","20":"tag-sabsabi","21":"tag-sufism-religion","22":"tag-united-states","23":"tag-unitedstates","24":"tag-us","25":"tag-venice-biennale"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116529616962212805","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/778079","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=778079"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/778079\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/778080"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=778079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=778079"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=778079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}