Over 5,000 people have signed a petition urging Indiana University at Bloomington (IU) to reinstate a canceled retrospective of Palestinian artist Samia Halaby. The show, titled Centers of Energy, was originally scheduled to open at the institution’s Eskenazi Museum of Art (EMA) on February 10, but according to a missive penned by a board member of the artist’s foundation, Madison Gordon, the school abruptly canceled the show via email in late December due to “safety concerns.”
Centers of Energy would have been the first retrospective of the 87-year-old abstract artist’s work in the United States. It was slated to include around 35 drawings, prints, and paintings created throughout the course of Halaby’s long career, spanning her time as a student at IU and Michigan State University (MSU) and her tenure as the first woman professor at the Yale School of Art.
In response to Hyperallergic‘s request for comment, an IU spokesperson said that “academic leaders and campus officials canceled the exhibit due to concerns about guaranteeing the integrity of the exhibit for its duration.” The circulating petition, and emails reviewed by Hyperallergic, suggest that the university’s decision is related to Halaby’s vocal pro-Palestine advocacy, including the artist’s activity on social media. In the months since Hamas’s October 7 attack and Israel’s ongoing bombardment of Gaza, cultural institutions have canceled a slew of exhibitions and events featuring artists and curators who have expressed their support of Palestine and calls for a ceasefire online.
“In the absence of any response from the administration, it is apparent that the University is canceling the show to distance itself from the cause of Palestinian freedom,” the petition text reads. “For 50 years, Samia has been an outspoken and principled activist for the dignity, freedom, and self-determination of the Palestinian people.”
Reached for comment by Hyperallergic, Halaby expressed her agreement. “Clearly the intent is to suppress Palestinian voices at this very time,” she said. “If that were not their intention why not accept my offer to meet with them and clear matters? Why did they not speak up during the three long years of preparation?”
Halaby penned two letters to President Pamela Whitten on December 27 and January 8 urging the university to reinstate the show, explaining that the unexpected nature of the cancellation, after years of collaborative work, is upsetting.
“Equally distressing is that this notice coincides at a time when Palestinian civilians are being massacred, starved, and displaced by the millions in Gaza,” Halaby wrote in her December 27 letter to the school, explaining that she was born in Jerusalem and survived the 1948 Nakba when she was 11 years old and has spent decades advocating for the life, safety, and self-determination of Palestinians. “What is being inflicted on the people of Gaza carves a deep wound.”
On January 11, the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) issued a letter of concern to IU leadership urging the school to reinstate the show. “Since the abstract works in the show are highly unlikely to be viewed as controversial, it would indeed seem that it is the artist’s pro-Palestine advocacy and activism that provoked the university’s concerns,” the letter reads.
The exhibition was conceived as part of a two-pronged series to be displayed across both IU’s Eskenazi Museum and MSU’s Broad Art Museum (BAM). Per the institution’s website, the latter iteration of her survey, titled Eye Witness, is still scheduled to open on June 28. BAM Curator Rachel Winter and EMA Curator Elliot Josephine Leila Reichert, who organized the shows, said they had no comment.
While IU has removed mention of Halaby’s show from its museum website, an over 200-page catalogue titled Centers of Energy is still available for pre-sale with the University of Chicago Press.
“We hope the show is reinstated to honor their great work,” Gordon told Hyperallergic of Halaby’s, her studio’s, and the curators’ three years of planning. “And to send a message that Palestinian artists deserve a voice.”
The Arab-American, New York-based artist Samer Akroush, who goes by Ridikkuluz, publicized the petition on Instagram and lamented the news of the show’s last-minute closure in a statement to Hyperallergic. He noted that he is close friends with the exhibition’s two curators and that he had met the artist personally and admired her career’s recent growth. “We were really hyped about this,” Ridikkuluz said. “She’s 87 now, and the world is slowly giving her her flowers.”
Editor’s note 1/11/24 10:45am EDT: This article has been updated with quotes from Samia Halaby.
Editor’s note 1/13/24 11:13am EDT: Since the original publication of this article the signatory list for the petition referenced has grown significantly. Hyperallergic has updated the number of signatures cited in the article.
.jpg){kind=link}
