Seventy-five faculty and staff in the Eskenazi School of Art, Architecture + Design spoke out after the cancellation of Palestinian artist Samia Halaby's exhibit.
(Courtesy of Elizabeth Housworth)
Seventy-five staff and faculty signed a letter on Feb. 7 which says the cancellation compromises IU’s reputation as a “haven of creative expression, academic freedom and human rights.”
The Eskenazi School — though separate from the Eskenazi Museum of Art that would have shown Halaby’s exhibit — has suffered. Invited artists have pulled out of collaborations with the school, and faculty candidates are no longer interested in coming to IU.
Fashion Design Program Director Heather Akou said the group wants to see the exhibit returned to IU, maybe displayed for a shorter time. IU cited security concerns when canceling the exhibit, so the letter suggests collaborating with Michigan State University, where Halaby’s work will show later this year.
“We would look forward to welcoming Halaby back to the community to which she already belongs as an alumna and former faculty, and in so doing, confirming that IU is a place where all forms of creative expression can thrive,” the letter said.
The “Samia Halaby: Centers of Energy” exhibition was canceled Dec. 20, 2023 due to security concerns by campus officials and academic leaders, an IU spokesperson said. The exhibition was set to open last weekend after three years of preparation at the Eskenazi Museum of Art as the first American retrospective of Halaby’s work.
Though the exhibit was canceled in December, Halaby’s grand-niece made the first public announcement with a petitionto reinstate it. More than 15,300 people have signed.
One of Palestine’s foremost artists and a pioneer of abstract painting, Halaby was educated in the Midwest after fleeing Palestine in 1948. She was an IU MFA student in the ‘60s and later a faculty member.
“This is a world-class artist,” Akou said. “We had an opportunity to see this retrospective exhibit on her career, and our students and faculty are missing out on that opportunity.”
Since the cancellation, three featured artists in the McKinney Visiting Artist Series have pulled out. Artists Nina Sarnelle and Selwa Sweidan said they would withdraw and forfeit compensation and plane tickets in a letter to President Pamela Whitten and Provost Rahul Shrivastav.
“Now, more than ever institutions like Indiana University need to support academic freedom and Palestinian voices,” the two artists wrote. “Instead, we find institutions canceling engagement with Palestinians, shutting down solidarity groups, and abusing the term ‘antisemitism’ to justify sweeping censorship.”
The other artist, Theresa Ganz, said on social media she was withdrawing because IU’s claims about security concerns are “clearly suspicious.” She said she cannot participate in the McKinney Visiting Artist Series in good conscience.
“To speak and share my work as a Jewish women while a Palestinian woman is being silenced would be to give cover to those who like to imply that anything Palestinian is automatically antisemitic,” Ganz said. “This mentality is nothing less than nihilistic ethno-nationalism.”
In addition to collaborating with artists, Akou said hiring faculty has been challenged, as candidates worry about limitations to their art and scholarship.
“Considering the long-term impact, I'm really concerned,” Akou said.
Research and art in the Eskenazi School speak to an artist's responsibility to represent the human experience, foster empathy and offer new perspectives, the letter said. The school has shown controversial and uncomfortable art in the past, such as memorials of Indiana’s last lynching and video installations honoring Ukrainian refugees.
The exhibit would have included abstract work from Samia Halaby's time at IU as an MFA student and faculty member. (Courtesy of Madison Gordon)
Akou said she can’t speak on behalf of all signers, but she’s questioning whether freedom of expression and scholarship are allowed at IU.
The university canceled the exhibit because of safety concerns, but IU hasn’t provided evidence of threats of property damage or violence. If the concerns are real, she said, then who decides what is too controversial or if security is needed?
“It shouldn't be up to the individual to decide whether something may or may not be controversial,” Akou said. “If we're going to avoid self-censoring, we need more clarity from the administration about what the threats are and what they are willing to support.”
Along with the Eskenazi School staff and faculty, many other members of the IU community have protested and spoken out since the cancellation became public. Free speech organizations, including the ACLU and the National Coalition Against Censorship, have condemned IU administration's decision. The International Committee for Museums and Collections of Modern Art Museum Watch have also criticized the cancellation.
Indiana University has declined multiple requests for interviews.
Shrivastav addressed some questions about Halaby at a Bloomington Faculty Council meeting Tuesday.
The budget for installations like Halaby’s often exceed $250,000, not including support from grants and sponsorships, Shrivastav said at the meeting. The university returned $93,000 in funding from the Terra Foundation for American Art and the National Endowment for the Arts. The remaining fixed costs of about $102,500 are being covered “centrally,” he said.
He said the museum will announce programming for reflection and learning this spring “to provide critical space or confront the implication of this and other challenging issues of today.” A spokesperson said in an email statement there are no current plans to display Halaby’s work in the future.
Shrivastav said at a faculty council meeting in January that the university was being cautious by canceling the exhibition.. He said the protest would have been a “lightning rod” for protests in the middle of campus. He did not cite any specific threats to Halaby’s exhibit despite being pressed by faculty.
“Anytime where you feel the risks are higher than the reward, we have to rethink that situation,” Shrivastav said. “We have had instances where we were fortunate we didn't have violence, but we certainly came pretty close to having violence. “
This story was updated at 4:20 p.m. to include Provost Shrivastav's statements from the Bloomington Faculty Council meeting Tuesday.
Aubrey is our higher education reporter and a Report For America corps member. Contact her at aubmwrig@iu.edu or follow her on Twitter at @aubreymwright.
