Latest news with #WesleyEnoch


The Guardian
19-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Australia's reckoning with Indigenous people takes one cultural glide forward, two political steps back
For several decades First Nations artists have done much of the heavy lifting in Australian cultural diplomacy. And now Wesley Enoch as chair of Creative Australia has to fix a damaged sector. Archie Moore, Tracey Moffatt, Warwick Thornton, Deborah Mailman, William Barton, Tony Albert, Judy Watson, David Gulpilil, Christian Thompson, Ivan Sen, Emily Kam Kngwarray, to name just some of the many who have won accolades for their stunning, original work and taken their place at the peaks of cultural power and influence. Winning hearts and changing minds as they went. Not so long ago this suggested a long overdue reckoning with the First Peoples; a reckoning that the rest of the world was watching in the detached way that those who can be bothered note what is happening elsewhere. Australia is diffident about cultural diplomacy, reluctant to exercise its soft power (in anything other than sport), as the abandonment of ABC Asia Pacific TV demonstrated – although the ABC has since revamped its international service. The global celebration of First Nations artists was a powerful way of showing that modern Australia had thrown off its colonial legacy, had grown into a truly mature and reconciled nation and come to terms with the ancient human heritage that makes it truly unique. Creative Australia put First Nations stories first in its strategic priorities, Dfat's cultural grants emphasised the persuasive power of 65,000 years of unique civilisation, and Australia lobbied hard for Unesco recognition of cultural heritage at Gunditjmara and now Murujuga. Yet as we approach the second anniversary of the decision by most Australians to reject meaningful recognition of First Peoples, the tension at the heart of this international celebration of the talent, stories and unique ways of seeing, being and doing comes clearly into focus. Is it simple hypocrisy or the old Australian way – one glide forward, two quick steps back? There are markers. The silence about discussing the referendum or to even consider national truth-telling. The ratty politics rejecting welcomes to country and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags. The patchy reporting of the coronial findings of institutional racism in the NT Police and the Yoorrook inquiry's findings of historic genocide. The federal court's hand-wringing decision that accepted government policies caused wilful destruction of culture and environment in the Torres Strait Islands but that it was unable to do anything about it. These recent events suggest that coming to terms with the enduring impact of the past is at best the latter, two quick steps back. At worst, to me, it suggests further signs of what Jeremy Bentham once called an 'incurable flaw'. All this came to mind as I stood outside Tate Modern waiting in line under an unusually hot summer sun for my bag to be checked. My English friend and I were on our way to the third floor of the vast former turbine to see the Emily Kam Kngwarray exhibition. 'Why is it on now?' he asked. He knows Australia, has spent time in central Australia and understood how the voice referendum hung heavily there. It's a reasonable question. And there are many answers. Some practical, others freighted with meaning. The director of the Tate told the press it was part of her plan to celebrate older female artists who should be considered great masters (mistresses?). The art press buzzed that this was one of three major exhibitions of Indigenous artists in London this summer – the others from Canada and Peru. Indigeneity is 'a thing'. The collaboration to celebrate the 'old lady's' work between the Tate, National Gallery of Australia and the women of Alhalker country began not long after the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, declared there would be a referendum to secure meaningful recognition of First Peoples in the Australian constitution. These big retrospective shows are years in the making, especially ones that require the active involvement of local communities as well as major galleries and high-profile owners around the world. When the extraordinary show first opened in Canberra just months after the vote, there was sadness about what might have been, about how the exhibition might have celebrated a new beginning. In London two years later, this is a barely acknowledged backdrop. Those seeing her work for the first time grapple with what it represents, how someone who only started painting in her 70s produced work as fresh and innovative as any major 20th-century artist – but how it grew out of her knowledge, skill and dreaming. Like all great artists the work is truly hers, grounded in her unique perspective. What comes as a surprise, to those who have only seen her images in books and posters, is their three-dimensional quality. Kngwarray layered paint to evoke stories of such extraordinary depth that they carry a fourth dimension of infinite time, 'everywhen'. It invites the viewer into a unique way of seeing and being. Another Australian artist is also celebrated on level 3 of the Tate. Leigh Bowery, who in his short life became a London gay style icon. Both Emily and Leigh speak to a distinctive Australian sensibility and energy. They prove that from an unlikely starting point anything is possible. Answering my friend's question, I said I wished the curators had projected The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, where flamboyant gay culture meets the outback, on the wall between the two iconoclastic Australians, to help viewers literally join the dots between the two exhibitions. Culture is complicated, cultural diplomacy can take time, but culture might still lead politics. Julianne Schultz an emeritus professor at Griffith University and the author of The Idea of Australia

ABC News
04-07-2025
- Entertainment
- ABC News
Unanswered questions in wake of Creative Australia's backflip on Venice Biennale artist Khaled Sabsabi
And so we return to where we began almost six months ago. Following an external review and months of outrage in the arts community, the artist Khaled Sabsabi and curator Michael Dagostino are once again Australia's representatives to the 2026 Venice Biennale, after Creative Australia's latest backflip. The February decision to remove the pair — a week after their Biennale selection was celebrated — led to Creative Australia resignations, damaged the funding body's relationship with the arts sector, and sullied the public reputation of an artist. Sabsabi and Dagostino said in a statement that having their Biennale selection reinstated "offers a sense of resolution and allows us to move forward with optimism and hope after a period of significant personal and collective hardship". And while acting Creative Australia chair Wesley Enoch praised the board's "very big heart" for engaging in a review of the decision to scrap Sabsabi "with integrity and thoughtfulness and mov[ing] forward", the impacts of the month-long arts scandal will not immediately be forgotten. Nor does Sabsabi's reinstatement mean that the many questions surrounding his Biennale saga are now answered. "The [external] review, for all the detail, does not actually clarify the decision-to-cancel process," Adelaide Writers Week director and senior arts commentator Louise Adler says. "What we do know is that the decision to cancel [Sabsabi and Dagostino] was a reaction to political pressure." After concerns were raised in February in parliament by senator Claire Chandler and in The Australian newspaper about two of Sabsabi's earlier artworks, Creative Australia's board scheduled an emergency meeting and came to a unanimous decision to withdraw the Venice Biennale commission. At a later Senate Estimates, when senator Sarah Hanson-Young asked Creative Australia CEO Adrian Collette why legal advice had not been sought prior to the decision being made, it led to the following exchange: Adrian Collette — We didn't have time. Sarah Hanson-Young — You didn't have time? AC — No, we didn't have time. SHY — According to who? AC — According to us. We had to make that decision very quickly. Esther Anatolitis, the editor of Meanjin and former executive director of the National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA), says it's still unclear why that was the case. "The issue really is, what was the hurry? And why did they perceive that as a crisis, when all that happened was that there was one critical and factually incorrect attack on the work which, as Blackhall and Pearl's report says, was capable of being defended by Creative Australia." Instead, the board's decision to drop Sabsabi sparked a massive backlash from the arts community, and a review was commissioned to examine the process, but not the merit, of the decisions that were made. The review's report states that Creative Australia was not "appropriately prepared" for "what, inevitably, was going to be a controversial decision". The report notes that the process of selecting Sabsabi and Dagostino was generally the same as it had been for 2024's representative, Archie Moore, who won the Golden Lion for his work at the Biennale. But "the external social and political context, particularly in late January-early February 2025, was profoundly different." It wasn't Sabsabi's proposal for the Biennale that was contentious, though. Instead, the report notes: "The source of potential controversy was seen to lie in the fact of selecting any artist with heritage connected to the Middle East at a time when conflict in that region was so emotive and polarising." Adler says it beggars belief that this climate was not sufficiently considered by Creative Australia. "There's not an arts organisation in the country that hasn't had to provide their increasingly risk-averse boards with risk assessments. "If Creative Australia was blindsided by the complexities of inviting Sabsabi, it suggests either a worrying level of naivety or a political judgement that a Brown artist from the western suburbs will tick a whole lot of boxes. Creative Australia's actions don't exist in a vacuum. A court found this month that the ABC had unfairly terminated Antoinette Lattouf because of her political opinion. Justice Darryl Rangiah found external pressure from "pro-Israel lobbyists" had played a role in the ABC's decision. The ABC's new managing director, Hugh Marks, has since conceded the ABC acted out of turn. Anatolitis argues that the Lattouf matter is "a parallel example of a privileged bypassing of a normal rigorous complaints procedure … knowing that it would fail … in order to achieve the outcome that the vexatious complainants intended". Adler also draws a link between the two events. "As with the suppression of the names of the "Lawyers for Israel" who campaigned for Lattouf's sacking, those who briefed Senator Chandler will probably never be outed." Adler says. Shortly after Creative Australia announced it had dropped Sabsabi, Monash University decided to postpone an exhibition curated by Stolon Press at their gallery, MUMA, featuring artwork by Sabsabi. "There's no question that Creative Australia's decision to cancel the invitation to Michael and to Khaled influenced Monash's decision to postpone the Stolon Press exhibition," Rebecca Coates, the director of MUMA, says. "We were dealing with a very singular interpretation of two still images from a very complex moving image artwork that were being used … as a means of progressing an argument. In May, Monash University also backflipped on its decision to "indefinitely postpone" its exhibition featuring Sabsabi, and in June the exhibition opened. Coates believes that has had an influence on the national arts funding body. "I think Monash's decision to subsequently proceed with the Stolon Press exhibition, which included Khaled's contribution as a collaborator, was inevitably part of the context in which Creative Australia decided to proceed with Khaled and Michael's representation at Venice," she says. Many within the arts have celebrated Sabsabi and Dagostino's reinstatement. However, opposition to the selection remains. Julian Leeser, shadow minister for the arts, told ABC Radio National Breakfast: "I think Creative Australia's made the wrong decision. The representative of Australia on the world stage should reflect our values and to reinstate this artist as our representative at Biennale and to give them taxpayers' funds I think flies in the face of those values. "Creative Australia has responsibilities to the taxpayer and the broader Australian community. I believe those issues continue to remain and that I believe Creative Australia should not have unmade their decision that they previously made to withdraw Mr Sabsabi from this exhibition at this time," he said. Coates interprets the decision differently; she see it as "a signal of renewal, growth and connectedness and, I believe, a shared future". "Some of these issues are coming up at such a rapid pace that the systems that were relevant to us even two years ago are no longer fit for purpose. And we, as a sector, have to be engaged in much more rigorous conversations around the messaging, the risk assessment, and how we go forward." For his part, Sabsabi told Nine newspapers in April: "I'm an artist, not a politician. "And my work for over 35 years is about finding ways to converse through complexity." He may now be in a position to hold that conversation a little more freely.

The Australian
03-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Australian
Creative Australia apologise after Khaled Sabsabi reinstatement ahead of 2026 Venice Biennale
The head of Australia's arts funding body has backtracked and issued an apology to two artists who were sacked as representatives to the Venice Biennale, before being reinstated in a major backflip. Artist Khaled Sabsabi and curator Michael Dagostino were initially selected as the artistic team to represent the Australian Pavilion at the internationally-renowned 2026 arts festival held in Venice, Italy. But in February the pair were controversially dumped by Creative Australia after questions were raised in parliament about previous artworks by Mr Sabsabi. Michael Dagostino is the director of the Campbelltown Arts Centre. Picture: Supplied Khaled Sabsabi with his works at Mosman Art Gallery. Picture: Supplied Following a review released on Thursday that found 'a series of missteps, assumptions and missed opportunities' in the decision-making process the artist and curator were reinstated. Opposition arts spokeswoman Claire Chandler cited the artworks in parliament, and hours later the creative agency had backflipped on the pair's appointment. One of the works showed footage of the September 11 attacks spliced with a clip of George W. Bush saying 'thank you very much'. Another contained depictions of then-Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. Creative Australia acting chairman Wesley Enoch has since apologised to Mr Sabsabi and Mr Dagostino for the 'hurt and pain that they've gone through in this process'. Wesley Enoch AM, Acting Chair of Creative Australia. Picture: Creative Australia He acknowledged the 'personal cost' that Mr Sabsabi and Mr Dagostino had paid in this saga. Mr Enoch reiterated the board had gone through a 'very rigorous process' which found reinstating the pair was 'the best option'. One former board member, sculptor Lindy Lee, quit the board at the time in protest of Mr Sabsabi and Dagostino's sacking. She told the ABC because of Mr Sabsabi's background his artwork was misinterpreted as supportive of Nasrallah. Coalition Arts spokesman Julian Leeser has been critical of the decision to reinstate Mr Sabsabi, telling RN Breakfast he thought Creative Australia had made 'the wrong decision' the reinstatement. Opposition arts spokesman Julian Leeser said he thought that Creative Australia had made 'the wrong decision'. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman 'The representative of Australia on the world stage should reflect our values and to reinstate this artist as our representative at the Biennale and to give them taxpayer funds I think flies in the face of those values,' he said. Mr Leeser did not make clear which values he thought Mr Sabsabi and Mr Dagostino did not represent, however he went on to reference the artists' works as having a 'history of presenting terrorist leaders'. He cited declining social cohesion as a reason that 'particularly at this time, this is the wrong person to be representing our country'. Mr Sabsabi has consistently maintained that his works do not promote terrorism – a view that was backed by Federal Arts Minister Tony Burke following the board's about-face. Arts Minister Tony Burke supported the pair's reinstatement. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman 'The report has shown that these works have not been regarded in any way, as promoting those involved with terrorism – the artist has made the same thing clear. 'If anything, the body of evidence says that these works are the exact opposite of something that could be seen to promote terrorism. 'Bearing that in mind, it makes complete sense that Creative Australia have recommissioned Khaled Sabsabi and Michael Dagostino. Their decision has my full support.' For their part, the artist-curator pair have accepted their reinstatement and said they will 'recommit ourselves fully to this project'. Brendan Kearns Cadet Journalist Brendan Kearns is a cadet journalist with News Corp Australia. He has written for The Australian, the Herald Sun, the Geelong Advertiser, CHOICE, Cosmos, and The Citizen. He won Democracy's Watchdogs' Student Award for Investigative Journalism 2024 and hosted the third season of award-winning podcast Uncurated. He studied as Master of Journalism at The University of Melbourne, before that he worked as a video producer and disability worker. @brendandkearns Brendan Kearns

News.com.au
03-07-2025
- Entertainment
- News.com.au
Australia's arts council issues apology, backtracks after sacked artists reinstated as Venice Biennale reps
The head of Australia's arts funding body has backtracked and issued an apology to two artists who were sacked as representatives to the Venice Biennale, before being reinstated in a major backflip. Artist Khaled Sabsabi and curator Michael Dagostino were initially selected as the artistic team to represent the Australian Pavilion at the internationally-renowned 2026 arts festival held in Venice, Italy. But in February the pair were controversially dumped by Creative Australia after questions were raised in parliament about previous artworks by Mr Sabsabi. Following a review released on Thursday that found 'a series of missteps, assumptions and missed opportunities' in the decision-making process the artist and curator were reinstated. Opposition arts spokeswoman Claire Chandler cited the artworks in parliament, and hours later the creative agency had backflipped on the pair's appointment. One of the works showed footage of the September 11 attacks spliced with a clip of George W. Bush saying 'thank you very much'. Another contained depictions of then-Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. Creative Australia acting chairman Wesley Enoch has since apologised to Mr Sabsabi and Mr Dagostino for the 'hurt and pain that they've gone through in this process'. He acknowledged the 'personal cost' that Mr Sabsabi and Mr Dagostino had paid in this saga. Mr Enoch reiterated the board had gone through a 'very rigorous process' which found reinstating the pair was 'the best option'. One former board member, sculptor Lindy Lee, quit the board at the time in protest of Mr Sabsabi and Dagostino's sacking. She told the ABC because of Mr Sabsabi's background his artwork was misinterpreted as supportive of Nasrallah. Coalition Arts spokesman Julian Leeser has been critical of the decision to reinstate Mr Sabsabi, telling RN Breakfast he thought Creative Australia had made 'the wrong decision' the reinstatement. 'The representative of Australia on the world stage should reflect our values and to reinstate this artist as our representative at the Biennale and to give them taxpayer funds I think flies in the face of those values,' he said. Mr Leeser did not make clear which values he thought Mr Sabsabi and Mr Dagostino did not represent, however he went on to reference the artists' works as having a 'history of presenting terrorist leaders'. He cited declining social cohesion as a reason that 'particularly at this time, this is the wrong person to be representing our country'. Mr Sabsabi has consistently maintained that his works do not promote terrorism – a view that was backed by Federal Arts Minister Tony Burke following the board's about-face. 'The report has shown that these works have not been regarded in any way, as promoting those involved with terrorism – the artist has made the same thing clear. 'If anything, the body of evidence says that these works are the exact opposite of something that could be seen to promote terrorism. 'Bearing that in mind, it makes complete sense that Creative Australia have recommissioned Khaled Sabsabi and Michael Dagostino. Their decision has my full support.' For their part, the artist-curator pair have accepted their reinstatement and said they will 'recommit ourselves fully to this project'.


The Guardian
03-07-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Creative Australia apologises to Khaled Sabsabi for ‘hurt and pain' after Venice Biennale reinstatement
The acting chair of Creative Australia has apologised to Khaled Sabsabi and his curator Michael Dagostino for the 'hurt and pain' caused by the decision to rescind their Venice Biennale commission, and said their artworks had been 'mischaracterised'. Wesley Enoch, who took over from a retiring Robert Morgan three months after the then chair told a Senate estimates hearing he would not be resigning over the controversy, apologised to Sabsabi and Dagostino live on air on Thursday, telling ABC RN the artist's work was not about the glorification of terrorism, as suggested in parliament in February. 'Those who mischaracterise the work aren't being honest to the intention of the work or the practice that this artist has, who is an incredibly peace-loving artist in the way that they construct their images,' he said. 'To Khaled and Michael – I've done it in person, but to say it here very publicly, I want to apologise to them for the hurt and pain they've gone through in this process.' An independent external review by Blackhall & Pearl into Creative Australia's actions in cancelling Sabsabi's commission found there was no single or predominant failure of process, governance or decision that had occurred, but there were 'a series of missteps, assumptions and missed opportunities that meant neither the leadership of Creative Australia, nor the board, were well placed to respond to, and manage in a considered way, any criticism or controversy that might emerge in relation to the selection decision'. The report did not go as far as to list among its nine recommendations the reinstatement of Sabsabi and Dagostino. The arts minister, Tony Burke, said on Wednesday he had told Creative Australia's chief executive Adrian Collette last week that he would support whatever decision the organisation made in the wake of the report's release. But the Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young said although the decision to reinstate Sabsabi and Dagostino was the right one, it was 'a terrible day for the board and CEO of Creative Australia who have disgraced themselves throughout this ordeal'. 'It is clear that the leadership of Creative Australia needs a clean out in order to rebuild trust within the artistic community and the Australian public,' she said in a statement. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email Also calling for Creative Australia and Burke to 'explain themselves' over the backflip was the Liberal MP and shadow minister for the arts, Julian Leeser, who told ABC RN on Thursday that there was 'nothing in the report [that] suggested that they needed to remake that decision'. 'One of the reasons that [Creative Australia] made their decision back in February to withdraw this is because they were concerned about issues in relation to the broader Australian community,' he said. 'I believe those issues continue to remain, and I believe that Creative Australia should not have unmade their decision that they previously made back in February to withdraw Mr Sabsabi from this exhibition,' he said, adding that Burke needed to explain 'how at this time, with this antisemitism crisis that Australia has faced, where we're a multicultural country, why this particular artist who has this particular history is being chosen to represent our country at this time and receive taxpayer funding to do so'. Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion Sabsabi and Dagostino welcomed the reversal of the decision on Wednesday, saying 'it offers a sense of resolution and allows us to move forward with optimism and hope after a period of significant personal and collective hardship'. Philanthropist and prominent arts advocate Simon Mordant resigned as Australia's International Ambassador for the 2026 Venice Biennale after the announcement of Sabsabi and Dagostino's removal. The resignation ended 30 years of active involvement in the Biennale, including two previous terms as commissioner and leader of the fundraising drive for the new Australian Pavilion in Venice. On Wednesday Mordant confirmed that the pair's reinstatement had led to his re-acceptance of the role, and described Creative Australia's decision as 'a watershed moment for the Australian arts community, whereby we can work towards eliminating any form of racism including antisemitism across the arts industries'. 'I am confident that the work presented will reflect the highest artistic standards and align with the values I have always upheld – integrity, inclusion, and respect,' he said, going on to reaffirm his position on upholding ethical boundaries in artistic representation. 'I would never knowingly support an artist or art that glorifies terrorism, racism or antisemitism or went against my values,' he said. The chief executive of the National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA) Penelope Benton, who was highly critical of Creative Australia's initial decision to cancel the commission, said despite the 'messy turn of events', Creative Australia's willingness to admit it had got it wrong would go a long way to renewing trust in the transparency and integrity of Australia's principal arts funding body. 'Artistic freedom and independent decision-making are fundamental to the role of a national arts body,' she said.