Minister Gayton McKenzie. Picture: Gallo Images / Die Burger/ Jaco Marais Sports, Arts and Culture Minister Gayton McKenzie has responded to accusations of censorship after it was reported that he pulled a South African exhibition from the 61st Venice Biennale because it focused on the deaths of women and children in Gaza. South African artist Gabrielle Goliath was set to exhibit a version of her elegy project, which has shone a light on femicide in South Africa and Namibia.
The version she was set to exhibit at the Venice Biennale was going to look at the thousands of women and children who were killed in Gaza by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). An article inDaily Maverickon Friday accused McKenzie of trying to censor the part of Elegy that dealt with deaths in Gaza. It claimed the minister had sent a letter in December to Art Periodic, the non-profit company responsible for presenting the artwork at the Venice Biennale.
McKenzie allegedly asked for the artistic direction of Goliath’s project to be changed. It was reported that he also threatened to pull South Africa’s participation at the biennale if his request was not granted. He said the artwork was “highly divisive in nature and relates to an ongoing international conflict that is widely polarising”.
Read Full Article on The Citizen
[paywall]
Despite pleas to allow the artwork to be displayed in Venice, McKenzie terminated the department’s relationship with Art Periodic at the beginning of January. He has since been accused of censorship and of being disingenuous. However, McKenzie on Saturday hit back at the criticism, calling it “misinformation, misdirection and insult”.
He said he raised his concerns with Art Periodic after he was told that a foreign country was going to to fund South Africa’s exhibition. He also accused the foreign country of using South Africa’s artwork to “endorse a geopolitical message about the actions of Israel in Gaza”. “This foreign country has its own resources, so why not rent its own space and fund its own message to convey its feelings about Israel and Gaza?” he asked.
[/paywall]
