American artist Diedrick Brackens and Lebanese artist Mounira Al Solh are the latest to join a series of requests for withdrawals from London's Barbican exhibition after it has been thrust into an alleged "censorship" misconduct.
The issue itself began after the art gallery canceled the lecture of Indian writer Pankaj Mishra, who was planning to address Israel's war on Gaza at the talk, at the beginning of February.
Since then, several artists and lenders have been requesting the removal of their art from the "Unravel: the Power and Politics of Textiles in Art" exhibition, which opened Feb. 13, including French-Moroccan artist Yto Barada and Filipino artist Pacita Abad, among others.
How the Withdrawal Protest Against the Barbican Started
Married art collectors Lorenzo Legarda Leviste and Fahad Mayet were the first ones to champion the demonstration by issuing the withdrawal of two quilts by Gee's Bend artisan Loretta Pettway that they lent to the gallery for use in the exhibition.
To announce their withdrawal, the two collectors released a public statement on Feb. 14 condemning the actions of the gallery, saying, "We believe this cancellation can only be classified as the Barbican's censorship of the [London Review of Books] and Pankaj Mishra."
On March 7, Barrada joined the movement and requested the removal of her two works in support of the canceled "The Shoah After Gaza" lecture by Mishra. Dayrit and Brackens both followed and continued the stream of removals on March 8.
In a letter addressed to the Barbican and quoted in Leviste and Mayet's statement, Barrada wrote: "If The Barbican thought it prudent to refuse the Radio AlHara Co-Founder's address of 'Free Palestine,' in June, I should think it now recognizes the extraordinary dangers in the suppression of peaceful resistance."
By March 10, Al Solh was the last of the artists to ask for the withdrawal of her work, while the collective Art Jameel requested the return of their loaned Pacita Abad trapunto painting. In total, nine works have been removed from the exhibition since the contentions first went public.
Similarly, Brackens also publicized his letter renouncing the art gallery's actions through the couple's statement, writing, "I am dismayed by the museum's acts of censorship and refusal to hold itself accountable to the public as well as its employees."
"The Barbican has shown an inability to make decisions that uphold the shared visions of artists and curators," he added, while also saying that the stream of withdrawals ultimately "sullied" the "well-intentioned vision" of the exhibition's curatorial team.
In response, Barbican CEO Claire Spencer also released a statement last week representing the gallery, writing, "We are sorry for the impact this has had on the artists, lenders, and curators and we respect the decisions of those who have withdrawn their work from 'Unravel: The Power and Politics of Textiles in Art.'"
