Row erupts as Gaza art exhibition cancelled by UHI Moray forced to find new venue

An art show about the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza will go ahead despite a last-minute cancellation by university bosses.

Work by Palestinian, Israeli, and UK artists were due to be displayed in the exhibition named The Opening Of The Fragile Pot at the Moray School of Art gallery in Elgin.

But the event was cancelled with just a week’s notice by the University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI).

A spokeswoman said hosting the exhibition could be seen as “endorsing” a particular viewpoint without any balance about the Hamas Israel War.

‘Partisan viewpoint’

Last October, militant group Hamas launched an unprecedented attack on Israel killing more than 1,000 people while others were taken hostage.

Israel’s government declared a full-scale war against Hamas and has since retaliated with bombardments of the Gaza Strip.

This conflict has resulted in thousands of deaths and is still ongoing.

The UHI spokeswoman said: “The college only recently became fully aware though that some of the promotional material for this event makes reference to what could be regarded as a partisan viewpoint.

“Our aim as a registered charity is to promote learning, teaching and research activities in an inclusive way that includes supporting academic freedoms, and artistic expression.”

What is happening to the art show?

Artist-curator Georgina Porteous has revealed the exhibition will now be hosted at WASPS Links Studios in Nairn.

The show – which will include work by Palestinian Feda’a Al-Hassanet – is running from Saturday until the end of the month.

She said: “We are hoping to raise some funds to help Feda’a who like everyone in Gaza is slowly being starved by Israel.

“After the initial finding of the International Court of Justice of ‘plausible’ genocide, it seems absurd to consider that it is ‘partisan’ to hold an exhibition drawing attention to what is happening there now.

“We are very grateful to WASPS for enabling the show to go on.

“It had taken many months to organise after Moray originally offered me the space last summer and being given little notice of the cancellation was highly stressful.”