Brooklyn Museum Rejects Artists’ Proposal for Pro-Palestine Statement
**Brooklyn Museum Artists Speak Out: Advocacy, Art, and the Struggle for Solidarity**
In recent months, the Brooklyn Museum has been at the center of a heated debate about art, activism, and institutional responsibility. A group of 22 artists participating in the museum’s *Brooklyn Artists Exhibition*, an open-call show commemorating the museum’s 200th anniversary, has demanded that the institution publicly denounce Israel’s actions in Gaza and provide clearer support for Palestinian solidarity. Their activism has sparked a broader cultural conversation about the obligations of museums, particularly ones that position themselves as champions of social justice.
### The Artists and Their Fight for Solidarity
The group of artists, including Aisha Tandiwe Bell, Chitra Ganesh, and Ronen Gamil, began organizing even before the exhibition opened in October 2023. Their demands included a public statement condemning violence in Gaza, a call for a ceasefire, and the museum’s commitment to the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI). They also urged the museum to sever ties with the Bank of New York Mellon, due to its investments in an Israeli weapons manufacturer. Additionally, 22 artists requested to symbolically display keffiyehs, commonly associated with Palestinian solidarity, alongside their exhibited works as part of what they described as “a collective artistic intervention.”
The museum denied this request, citing a prior agreement that artists’ works should be displayed as they were originally submitted. Yet, this response drew criticism from the organizing artists, who argued that the museum’s stance reflected a double standard. They noted that the museum had altered past exhibitions to align with specific political narratives, referencing the decision to wrap Deborah Kass’s sculpture “OY/YO” in blue fabric in 2022 to signify solidarity with Ukraine during its conflict with Russia.
### Broader Community Involvement and Mobilization
Support for the artists’ demands has gone far beyond museum walls. Nearly two dozen local collectives have publicly backed the group, sending a letter to museum leadership urging action. This wave of advocacy resonates with others across New York City, which has seen a growing number of protests against Israel’s actions in Gaza throughout 2023 and 2024. The United Nations, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch have characterized some of these actions as genocidal, making the artists’ calls for condemnation more urgent in their eyes.
The museum’s continued reluctance to act has become a flashpoint. By refusing to allow modifications to the displays and maintaining silence on the geopolitical conflict, the institution faces growing scrutiny for its alignment with its stated mission of promoting “social justice.” Critics argue this silence amounts to complicity, undermining the museum’s credibility as a progressive cultural space. Citing historical moments, such as its willingness to stand against censorship during the 1999 controversy over Chris Ofili’s *The Holy Virgin Mary*, individuals have expressed disappointment that the museum has not leveraged its platform for what they view as a clear moral stance.
### The Museum’s Legacy in Activism — A Complicated History
The Brooklyn Museum certainly has a history of navigating art’s intersection with activism, and not always without contention. In 2016, the institution faced widespread criticism for hosting an exhibition of photos of Israel and the Occupied West Bank, which included sponsorship from entities associated with Israeli state interests, such as Taglit Birthright and Bank Hapoalim. Activists at the time installed guerrilla wall labels listing the Arabic names of sites depicted in the exhibition, challenging what they described as an erasure of Palestinian identity.
More recently, the museum became a key site for anti-Israel protests in the wake of renewed conflict in Gaza. A particularly charged protest in May 2024 resulted in dozens of arrests and allegations of excessive force by police, with activists accusing the museum of not doing enough to intervene against the police response. The homes of several museum leaders were later defaced with red paint and graffiti critical of perceived Zionist sympathies, leading to hate crime charges against three individuals. These incidents underscore the tightrope museums must walk when engaging with politically charged issues.
### A Call for Institutional Accountability
For the artists involved in the *Brooklyn Artists Exhibition*, advocating for Palestinian solidarity is both a moral imperative and an extension of their creative practices. One of the organizers, Catherine Tafur, who grew up witnessing political violence in Peru, insists that speaking out against what she calls “the settler-colonialism of Israel” aligns with her body of work. Similarly, Wendy Cohen views her art, which explores themes of love and memory, as a vehicle to address broader human rights issues, stating, “Advocating for shared humanity and moral obligations to speak out against genocide is what my work is about.”
The artists’ choice to keep their works in the exhibition while advocating for change reflects a belief in using the museum’s platform to amplify their voices rather than retreat from it. Gamil hopes that the museum