Updated at 12:40 p.m. June 27 with comments from the executive director of the Craft Alliance
Two local artists are criticizing a St. Louis art center for removing their exhibition, which the organization labeled as antisemitic.
Dani Collette and Allora McCullough were selected for Craft Alliance’s artists-in-residence program in July 2023. The 11-month program picks two artists to share a private studio, receive a stipend and tuition waivers for workshops, and compose a group exhibition that’s presented for a month at the end of the program.
The artists titled their exhibition, which they said focused on pro-Palestinian and anti-genocide movements, “Planting Seeds, Sprouting Hope.”
The exhibition opened Friday. Two of Collette’s pieces were removed prior to the exhibit’s opening, which she said she was not aware of until she arrived at the event. One was a bowl with a keffiyeh print, titled “Symbol of Solidarity,” and the other was several watermelon seed-shaped pieces with the phrase “Land Back” carved into them.
A couple of title cards for her pieces were removed as well, including for the artworks “Indigenous to Palestine” and “From the River to the Sea.” The slogan, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” is a frequent chant used by supporters of Palestinian statehood and by demonstrators against the war in Gaza. The meaning of the phrase is disputed. Some consider it a call for the destruction of Israel and its people.
Bryan Knicely, executive director of the Craft Alliance, said he considers the slogan a call to violence based on his own research. He said it was found offensive by a volunteer who is Jewish and viewed the exhibit prior to its opening.
Collette said she was using the phrase to “have a discourse about the positive way in which Palestinians/Gazans are using it. I have a firsthand account from a Palestinian person who informed me that when they use it, it’s a call for freedom, equality and peace for all inhabitants 'From the [Jordan] River to the [Mediterranean] Sea’ including Jews and Israelis.”
She said she was dismayed to find the title cards removed.
“I showed up and my artwork was gone, and my titles were gone, which I think is an incredibly disrespectful and aggressive stance to take without any sort of discourse or effort at discourse,” Collette said.
On Monday, Craft Alliance posted on Facebook and Instagram that it planned to remove the exhibition for using “antisemitic slogan[s] and imagery” that called for “violence and the destruction of the Jewish state of Israel.”
The artists said they were transparent with Craft Alliance about the meaning of the exhibition when they decided on it almost two months ago; the Facebook post says they "did not share the artwork and titles" ahead of time.
“They’ve had every opportunity to come to us prior to the opening of the show, but they waited to react once the work was already up,” Collette said.
Knicely, however, said the artists were not forthcoming about the artwork or its titles because they were still finishing up some of the pieces until a day before the exhibition, despite the organization asking to view their work weeks in advance.
He said that while he didn’t work with the artists directly, he made multiple efforts to tell the faculty that did oversee the artists-in-residence program to work with the artists and inform them they were not allowed to take a political stance through their show due to the organization’s policies.
Knicely said he wanted the artists to be clearer about their exhibition’s message so he could have worked with them on a public education plan to help the community understand the meaning behind the artists’ work.
“If you’re doing something political, it needs to have that educational component,” Knicely said. “It has to be done in advance so people know what to expect, and then we would’ve seen the titles, and we could’ve suggested a different way of introducing that piece or that title so it could’ve been acceptable to the public.”
Collette said that members of the organization’s leadership team she worked with had been aware of the exhibition’s theme for about six weeks, and that she was under the impression that the show was approved.
McCullough, the other artist, said it’s dangerous to make claims of antisemitism when people support Palestinians.
“To accuse us of being antisemitic because we want to support freedom for innocent civilians is absurd,” McCullough said.
The artists were employed by Craft Alliance to teach classes in addition to the residency program. They said they have since been terminated.
McCullough said Craft Alliance’s choice to remove the exhibition reflects negatively on the arts organization’s character. She said it should be promoting conversations around the messages behind contemporary art.
“I wish that more people were open to the idea of art spaces being a safe space for discourse, and that sometimes discourse is a little uncomfortable, but it should never be violent,” she said. “I think that the reaction of removing my livelihood and removing Dani’s work, specifically her indigenous work, are violent actions.”
Knicely said the decision to close the exhibition was “definitely challenging.” He added it will be a lesson for Craft Alliance as its artist residency program moves forward.
“We never want to shut something down, but we will do something like that if we have to protect our staff or our patrons or anyone that sees the exhibition,” Knicely said. “No one should come into an unsafe place where they feel that there’s a call out to harm them.”
