A London art gallery cancelled an exhibition by a Russian anti-Putin group on its opening day after one of its members who lives in Israel expressed grief for those murdered on October 7 shortly after the attack.Metamorphika studio in London pulled a show by Pomidor - comprised of artists Maria and Polina - after receiving complaints about two of Maria’s Instagram posts made a month after October 7, in which she remembered the Israeli victims of the Hamas attack.The gallery said their decision was not because of Maria’s Israeli nationality, but because she had not said anything about Palestinian deaths in Gaza and added that the gallery stands against “Israel Zionism”.[The statement said, ]“As a coalition of artists, founders, and more, we believe in the freedom of occupied Palestine. And we ask our collaborators and artists to condemn oppression in its all geopolitical contexts without exemptions.“As a team we have decided not to engage with artists who stay neglect the death of over 35,000 Palestinians, widespread of famine, water contamination, spread of diseases and more.”
They didn't claim that the artists supported killing Gazans. They said that they were guilty of mourning Jews and not at the same time mourning Gazans.
I went through Metamorphika's Instagram site, and cannot find a word about the tens of thousands of people who have been killed in Sudan over the past year, or about up to 2.5 million people potentially dying of hunger-related causes in Sudan by October. They didn't condemn the 100,000 killed in war in Ethiopia in 2022.
They are neglecting the deaths of countless people across the world. By their own stated standards, they must be shut down, because they clearly don't give a damn about the hundreds of thousands of people dying worldwide from war related causes.
Or, is it possible that they made up this rule just for Jews? Could it be that they have a different standard for Jews than for the entire rest of the world?
The real irony is that this exhibit was meant to publicize the evils of Vladimir Putin's censorship. Yes, this art museum censored an exhibit on censorship.
If you don't see antisemitism here, it is because you don't want to see antisemitism here.
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