Two exhibitions dedicated to raising awareness and support for Palestinians are set to open in London later this week.
In a collective act of solidarity, more than 200 artists from 35 countries have come together for a show opening at London’s Studio 1.1. A catalogue describes it as as “an act of resistance, an act of solidarity and a rejection of the art world’s silence and complicity in Israel’s genocide of the Palestinian people”.
Organised in collaboration with the artist-led activist community Artists Supporting Palestine (ASP) and titled GAZAGAZAGAZA, the exhibition will run from 10-27 July and feature more than 400 donated works. To allow wider public participation, around 140 pieces have been produced at postcard size and priced at £20. All proceeds from sales will go to Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP), a UK-based charity providing medical aid in the occupied Palestinian territories and to Palestinians refugees.
Michael Keenan, the co-founder and director of Studio 1.1, and Gavin McIntosh, a Leeds based artist and co-creator of ASP, tell The Art Newspaper that although both had long considered a show, once connected, they pulled the exhibition together within a month. “The really important and exciting thing is that this gives us the opportunity to make our position clear. To make a protest and to show the anger and the bewilderment about the situation,” Keenan says.
McIntosh says the contrast between the art world’s strong support for Ukraine and its relative silence on Gaza has been deeply frustrating for him and other artists—making the overwhelming response to the exhibition’s open call since its announcement in early June a clear sign of how eager many artists are to be heard on the subject. “What we're seeing coming out of Gaza, it should be absolutely melting people's brains and hearts,” he says.
“We wanted this to be an absolute riot of diverse voices from the art world, to say ‘look, the art world isn't silent'. The top tiers of the art world are silent but the day-to-day artists they're not silent. They've got something to say,” he adds.
McIntosh explains that it was his anger and frustration at the lack of initiatives and spaces he found where artists could freely express support for Palestinians that led to the creation of ASP in early 2024. The platform allows artists to sell works online, with payments made directly to MAP via JustGiving. Once the artist receives confirmation of the donation, they post the works to the buyer.
“Once Artist Support in Palestine launched, we immediately started getting lots of people getting in touch and saying, ‘I've been looking for this for ages, this is so good’,” says McIntosh.
To date ASP has raised over £50,000 for MAP and with the announcement of the London exhibition, McIntosh says the initiative’s support has grown exponentially.
Among the artists who joined the initiative are France-based British artist Steph Goodger and French graphic designer Cedric Bousquet, both of whom had been seeking ways to support Gaza beyond their own platforms. They have also played a central role in planning and designing the London exhibition and are contributing parallel fundraising projects.
Bousquet has created a loop of short artist animations, including a short film by Goodger, with donations encouraged to view the screening. Goodger’s Badges for Gaza Project offers badges, tote bags and t-shirts featuring drawings by children in Gaza, with all proceeds going directly to their families.
Goodger says she often sends the families pictures of people wearing the products. “It gives them a sense of contact with the outside world, that people care about them,” she says.
Additional fundraising initiatives at the show include sales of prints by Gaza-based artists Zainab Shbair and Ahmed Muhanna, with all proceeds going directly to the artists. London artist Tom Loffill is contributing with a booklet of drawings of Palestinian writers, including a foreword written by 27-year-old Ghadheer Ebrahime in Gaza. Proceeds will support Ebrahime’s family.
Live performances and other events are also planned throughout the exhibition.
Photographing protest
Wayne Campbell, Jeeda (2024)
Courtesy of the artist
The ties of solidarity between protestors in the UK and Palestinians living in the West Bank have been captured in a new exhibition by photographer Wayne Campbell.
0710 JOURNEYS, which opens at P21 Gallery in north west London on 10 July, combines striking black and white photographs of the demonstrations which have erupted across the UK in recent months with images Campbell took while visiting Palestinian communities in the West Bank earlier this year.
“These stories need to be shared, and told and it is only through our solidarity can this happen,” he told The Art Newspaper. “Historically, art has always been used as a weapon or a tool to help inform our empathy.
“We all remember the image of a man stood in front of the tank in Tiananmen Square, or the young girl running after being hit by napalm. I believe these images strike a chord and touch us at a deeper empathetic level and can help to bring about change.”
Campbell was born in Brixton and is the first Black man to exhibit at P21. He says: “I grew up in Brixton at a time when being Black was the only excuse you needed to be stopped, searched, or beaten by the police. Being marginalised helps to inform my empathy. My lived experience is my connection to this cause.”
- GAZAGAZAGAZA is at Studio 1.1 and 0710 JOURNEYS is at P21 Gallery from 10 July
