Exhibition Opens After Censorship
An exhibition of photographs of Palestine opens in a Marrickville Council gallery a week after a similar exhibition was closed down by neighboring Leichhardt Council.
“We’ve had none of the sort of trouble they have had in Leichhardt,” says Nick Murphy, a spokesperson for Marrickville Council.
Leichhardt Council closed down the exhibition ‘Al-Nakba’ a day before it was planned to open in Leichhardt library. The decision to close the exhibition was made after counter-terrorism police visited the library.
Leichhardt council spokesperson Shane McCardle says the council made the decision to take down the show because it endangered the library staff.
“We’ve had incidents where staff have been shouted at and physically abused,” he says.
Jennifer Killen, a school teacher and member of the community group ‘Friends of Bethlehem’, assisted with the installation and organisation of both exhibitions.
“Crazy people come in and abuse staff at that library all the time,” says Killen.
“It doesn’t make a difference what pictures are on the wall, they are still going to come in,” she says.
The Marrickville council exhibition ‘Dreams of Home’ is open and features pictures taken by the children of Aida Refugee Camp in Bethlehem. British artist and curator, Rich Wiles, teaches photography at the camp. Wiles exhibits the children’s photographs around the world.
“Everywhere that I go there are problems for people who are working for Palestine,” says Wiles.
“But I’ve never heard anything as ridiculous in all my life as the anti-terrorist police coming to an art exhibition.”
Wiles says the police are more than welcome to attend his exhibition.
“It’s not a threat to us, we have nothing to hide, we are just showing daily life, we are just showing humanity, which everybody should be looking at,” he says.
Leichhardt council says it would be willing to host the ‘Al-Nakba’ exhibition at another location instead of Leichhardt library.
“If the exhibition was up somewhere else where less people could see it, somewhere people would have to go specifically to see it, then it could work,” says McCardle.
“But the council would still have to approve it,” he says.
Jennifer Killen says the library is the most suitable site for the exhibition.
“The whole purpose was to inform the public, it was for the people who didn’t know or weren’t interested,” she says.
“We want to show what life is like in Palestine,” she says.
Rich Wiles started his art project so he could help the children’s voice be heard.
“The children have a very articulate and powerful voice, it just needs, if you like, a microphone, they need a way to get that voice to the world,” he says.
“The children feel totally marginalised and trapped, Aida camp is surrounded by the wall.”
“The children feel they can’t communicate with the rest of the world,” he says.
The children can at least communicate to the citizens of Marrickville council, Leichhardt residents will have to cross Parramatta Rd to see what life is like in Palestine.
The exhibition ‘Dreams of Home’ opens at Chrissie Cotter Gallery in Camperdown on May 22 and runs until June 1.
The Chrissie Cotter Gallery is located in Pidcock Street Camperdown, next to the Camperdown Bowling Club. Gallery opening hours are Wednesday to Sunday, 11am-4pm.