Israeli Artist Closes Biennale Show in Support of Gaza Ceasefire and Hostages
The Israeli artist showcasing her work at the Venice Biennale has made a heartfelt appeal for a ceasefire in the Gaza conflict. She also announced that her exhibit will be closed until the safe release of the hostages.
Ruth Patir’s highly-anticipated video installation “(M)otherland” was set to debut at Israel’s national pavilion during the international art show this past weekend. However, just one day before the media preview, she made the unexpected decision to keep the installation closed for the time being.
In an Instagram post, she expressed her feelings about art, saying, “I feel like we’ve lost touch with the essence of art, but I’m holding onto hope that its time will come again.”
She said she and curators Mira Lapidot and Tamar Margalit “have become the news, not the art”.
“And so if I am given such a remarkable stage, I want to make it count,” she wrote.
“I have therefore decided that the pavilion will only open when the release of hostages and ceasefire agreement happens.”
Thousands of artists, architects and curators signed a petition earlier this year urging the Biennale organisers to ban Israel over its actions in Gaza – a call condemned by Italy’s culture minister as “shameful”.
“I am an artist and educator, I firmly object to cultural boycott,” Patir continued.
“But since I feel there are no right answer(s), and I can only do what I can with the space I have, I prefer to raise my voice with those I stand with in their scream, ceasefire now, bring the people back from captivity.
“We can’t take it anymore.”
Hamas led an unprecedented attack on southern Israel on October 7, resulting in the deaths of 1,170 people, according to Israeli figures. The Palestinian group says the attack came in response to Israel’s occupation of Palestine and continued aggression against the Palestinian people, as well as its siege of the Gaza Strip.
Israel’s ruthless air and ground offensive has killed over 33,800 people in Gaza since then, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry. It has pushed the enclave to the brink of famine and rendered much of it uninhabitable.
Israel estimates that 129 hostages seized out of more than 250 during the October 7 attack remain in Gaza.
The Biennale Arte 2024, one of the world’s leading international art exhibitions, runs from April 20 to November 24.
