Published: 18 February 2025
Last updated: 18 February 2025
Who is Khaled Sabsabi?
Khaled Sabsabi is a Lebanese-born, Muslim Australian multi-media artist, who lives in Western Sydney. He began his creative life as a hip hop artist and has experimented with various media, but is best known for large-scale installation pieces. He has held more than 90 exhibitions and has been collected in many Australian galleries, including the Art Gallery of NSW, Queensland Art Gallery and Australian War Memorial.
What is his art about?
Sabsabi describes his art as focusing on place, displacement, identity and ideological differences associated with migrant experiences and marginalisation. His work often deals with his identity as a Muslim and with the Middle East.
One of his best known pieces, 70,000 Veils, is described as “a reflection on Prophet Muhammad’s teachings on what separates the individual from the divine”. It includes 100 digital video channels each playing unique sequences of 700 photographs from the 10,000 Sabsabi took for the work, which he then layered with digital and painted effects.
Why is his work controversial?
Two artworks have prompted concerns.
You (2007) held by the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) in Sydney is a video installation showing Hassan Nasrallah, then leader of the terrorist organisation Hezbollah, reciting the words “O most honourable, pure, and generous people, may God's peace, mercy, and blessings be upon you”, taken from a speech celebrating victory over Israel in 2006. Voices and images are manipulated in the video, and the MCA describes the work as including the use of beams of light that "suggest divine illumination". The artwork has been criticised as glorifying Hezbollah, a banned terrorism organisation in Australia.
Thank You Very Much (2006) is a video showing scenes from the 9/11 attacks and ending with a clip of President George Bush saying “Thank you very much”. It has been interpreted as showing sympathy for Al-Queda, another banned terrorist organisation.
Why is his politics controversial?
Sabsabi has been outspoken in support of Palestinians and against Israel.
He was among the artists who boycotted the Sydney Festival in 2022 after it accepted $20,000 sponsorship from the Israeli government for a Sydney Dance Company performance of work by Israeli choreographer Ohad Naharin. Sabsabi said he was withdrawing from the festival “out of solidarity with the Palestinian people and the Palestinian cause”.
More recently he has spoken of his sympathy with Palestinians. “How can you not be affected when you have family, when you have friends, when your family has inter-married with Palestinian people? We need a way forward,” he told The Art Newspaper.
He is not on record criticising Israel directly and he has also been critical of Islamic extremism. He created a work condemning the destruction of ancient religious sites by Islamic State, responding in a 2018 video work depicting multi-faith worship, Bring The Silence.
Why was he selected to represent Australia?
Sabsabi was announced as the artist and Michael Dagostino as the curator for the Australian pavilion at the 2026 Venice Biennale, sometimes described as the “Olympics of the art world”.
Announcing the appointment, Creative Australia CEO Adrian Collette said Sabsabi’s work “reflects the diversity and plurality of Australia’s rich culture, and will spark meaningful conversations with audiences around the world”.
Details of the work planned for Venice were not made public, but the announcement said the exhibition “hopes to build empathy and connection between all people”.
Why was his appointment withdrawn?
Concern about Sabsabi’s selection was voiced by Liberal Senator Claire Chandler in Question Time in Parliament on Thursday. Chandler, who is shadow minister for science and the arts, asked Foreign Minister Penny Wong: "Why is the Albanese government allowing a person who highlights a terrorist leader in his artwork to represent Australia on the international stage at the Venice Biennale?"
Senator Wong replied that she was not aware of the details of Sabsabi's appointment and past artwork until then. "I agree with you that any glorification of the Hezbollah leader Nasrallah is inappropriate," she said.
Within hours, the Board of Creative Australia met and announced it had made the unanimous decision not to proceed with the artistic team chosen for the Venice Biennale 2026, on the grounds that the choice was too controversial.
“Creative Australia is an advocate for freedom of artistic expression and is not an adjudicator on the interpretation of art. However, the Board believes a prolonged and divisive debate about the 2026 selection outcome poses an unacceptable risk to public support for Australia’s artistic community and could undermine our goal of bringing Australians together through art and creativity,” Creative Australia said in a statement. It also said it would be reviewing the process which had led to Sabsabi’s selection.
The case has been described as a matter of political interference. Minister for the Arts Tony Burke told The Guardian that he had spoken to Creative Australia CEO Adrian Colette before the board meeting but had not influenced the decision.
“I rang Adrian to find out what had happened. At that point, he had already determined that they were going to have a board meeting that night.
“I was very clear. I made clear to Adrian Collette, who I have known for more than a decade, I said to him whatever you decide, I will support you and I will support Creative Australia,” Burke told the 7.30 Report.
How have Sabsabi and Dogostino responded?
Sabsabi and Dagostino released a joint statement in which they said they were “extremely hurt and disappointed” but were still committed to presenting the planned work on a global platform “and will seek community support to make this happen”.
The statement read: “We intended to present a transformational work in Venice, an experience that would unite all audiences in an open and safe shared space. This reflects and builds on the work we have done for decades and will do for many more. Art should not be censored as artists reflect the times they live in.
“We believe in the vision of artists for an inclusive future that can bring us together to communicate and progress our shared humanity. We also believe that, despite this decision, the Australian art world will not dim and/or be silent.”
What has been the wider reaction?
The cancellation of Sabsabi’s Venice appointment has provoked a string of protests from artists and artist administrators, with many describing it as censorship.
Mikala Tai, head of Creative Australia’s visual arts department, has resigned and arts philanthropist Simon Mordant has withdrawn his funding and resigned his position as an ambassador to Australia’s participation in the Biennale.
Artist Lindy Lee, who was on the Creative Australia board which voted unanimously to withdraw Sabsabi’s appointment subsequently resigned, telling the Sydney Morning Herald the board’s decision was made in “good faith” but “nobody except those involved can ever know how fraught and heartbreaking that meeting was”.
Journalist Joe Hildebrand wrote it was not a case of censorship but of a refusal to give public funds to someone who was “Al-Qaeda adjacent”. He also noted that those crying “censorship” overs Sabsabi are the same people willing to cancel Israeli voices.
Who will now represent Australia in Venice?
Australia faces the likelihood of having no official representation at next year’s Venice Biennale.
None of the other five artists shortlisted are expected to agree to represent Australia in these circumstances. All five issued a joint statement in support of Sabsabi, describing the selection process as “rigorous and professionally independent” and the Sabsabi and Dagostino as a team with “artistic vision and courage”.
Sabsabi and Dagostino say they will go ahead independent of the Australian pavilion and present their work in Venice.
READ MORE
This artist fled civil war, now he’ll represent Australia on the world stage (SMH, paywall)
Spate of resignations follow Creative Australia's decision to drop artist Khaled Sabsabi from Venice Biennale (ABC)
‘A shameful call by Creative Australia’: the arts community reacts to Khaled Sabsabi being dropped from the Venice Biennale (Conversation)
Tony Burke says he called Creative Australia chief executive before board meeting when Biennale selection rescinded (Guardian)
Comments2
Ian Grinblat18 February at 01:59 am
‘Artist Lindy Lee, who was on the Creative Australia board which voted unanimously to withdraw Sabsabi’s appointment subsequently resigned, telling the Sydney Morning Herald the board’s decision was made in “good faith” but “nobody except those involved can ever know how fraught and heartbreaking that meeting was”.’
Is Lindy Lee saying that she was uncomfortable to be part of that unanimous vote? Why did she not cast a dissenting vote?
Ian Grinblat18 February at 01:57 am
Well, how fortunate that the artists have the private resources to present at Venice.
Censorship is a heavy word to use for such a fraught matter; we cannot know if a “significant” artist today will enjoy the same standing in even 50 years. Our art gallery storerooms hold many sentimental paintings from late Victorian times; widely popular in their day, they are no longer displayed.