(The Age, 21/12/2023)
A series of portraits of Palestinian journalists killed during the ongoing conflict between Israel and Gaza were plastered on ABC’s Melbourne offices in an act of protest on Wednesday morning.
The 40 portraits were created by 40 local artists, each depicting a journalist who has died in recent weeks.
While some artists are happy to disclose their involvement, including Sofia Sabbagh and Stella Prize shortlistee Eloise Grills, most of the artists have elected to remain anonymous “due to potential future reprisals, funding cuts, deplatforming”, a spokesperson said. Due to this anonymity, the exact number of artists involved cannot be independently verified.
“There have been a lot of artists wanting to voice their feelings and opinions for Palestine, and there has been a lot of censoring and fear,” said Sabbagh. “A lot of artists have been mobilised on the streets going to protests and feeling quite unheard and unable to have their work supporting Palestine represented by arts organisations.”
Part of the reason behind the action at the ABC offices this morning, Sabbagh explained, was to draw attention to the way media had been covering both the conflict and the local protests.
Sabbagh’s portrait was of filmmaker and journalist Roshdi Sarraj, who had previously worked with ABC’s 7.30 program. “ABC did not cover his death,” Sabbagh said. “He died protecting his family while his house was struck by an airstrike.”
As part of a group statement released to the media on Wednesday morning, the artists said: “We, the 40 creators of these portraits, grieve the murder of our journalists by the IOF … We bow our heads and draw in reverence for 86 Palestinian journalists and counting, three Lebanese journalists and counting, among a paradigm which minimises the importance of Arabic and Muslim lives. As our media rings loudly with the silence.”
It’s another example of tensions over the Israel-Hamas conflict in the arts community. In November, two separate open letters ignited turmoil and division within Australia’s high-powered art world, while a pro-Palestinian protest at curtain call during Sydney Theatre Company’s opening night of The Seagull triggered three board resignations.
Meanwhile, at least 30 protesters staged a “die in” outside Nine’s Melbourne offices early Wednesday morning, where they blocked an entrance to the building. The protesters – many dressed as war zone press – lay on the ground and some held signs urging “outrage” from this masthead.
A group called No More Bodies in Gaza claimed responsibility for the action outside Nine in a statement released to media following the protest. The same group placed fake corpses outside the electorate offices of seven Labor MPs last month.
The portraits have been removed from the ABC building in Melbourne. While it is understood security guards removed the posters, the ABC has been contacted to confirm who removed them and when, but had not replied by the time of publication. A spokesperson for the artists said the portraits would be made available online.
“So many people who have actually seen the portraits have been so moved, often to the point of tears, by seeing each of these people who have died – they’re not just numbers,” said Sabbagh. “They’re on the ground reporting their own erasure, reporting their own deaths and the erasure of their homes. So it was an extremely moving experience.”