Art for a Free Palestine: The new exhibition raising funds for Gaza

Launched at the LIMBO gallery in Margate last Saturday, RESISTANCE – Art for a Free Palestine is a new exhibition and online art auction that features artworks by Palestinian artists, including those based in Gaza and the West Bank, and artists who stand in solidarity with Palestine. The funds raised by the auction will go towards two groups: Gaza Sunbirds, Gaza’s para-cycling team, which secures and distributes aid across the Gaza Strip, and the Ghassan Abu Sittah’s Children’s Fund, which provides vital medical attention for the children of Gaza and Lebanon.

The exhibition is organised by Margate-based group Thanet 4 Palestine, which in the last year has staged a number of actions and protests in Margate: the group has occupied the Turner Contemporary on three separate occasions, to protest what it describes as the gallery’s “silence and complicity in the ongoing genocide of Palestinians.” Thanet 4 Palestine also organised an open letter to the Turner Contemporary, which was signed by over 700 artists, cultural workers, community members and Turner Prize winners.

The letter pointed out that the gallery’s failure to say anything about Gaza stands in sharp contrast to its “swift and public solidarity” with Ukraine, which it offered just days after Russia’s invasion, and demanded that it makes a “statement in support of the Palestinian people and against Israel’s blatant disregard for international and humanitarian law”.

The RESISTANCE - Art for a Free Palestine exhibition was conceived of as both a fundraiser and as a form of protest in its own right. A member of Thanet 4 Palestine tells Dazed, “A couple of us had been wanting a show for a while now, so we decided to just go for it.”

“The art world's response [to Gaza] has not been very good at all, because there are so many links with the Israeli state and donors involved in the arms industry,” they continue. “If you delve into it, the art world is actually quite dark. But it’s encouraging that we are starting to see an alternative art world of artists who don't want to be a part of this. People are more willing to go against institutions, even though this can be really difficult. Some of the artists in the show have lost money, support and faced censorship this year because of their stance on Palestine, but they haven’t let that stop them. It’s brilliant to see so many people refusing to sell out.”

The show is open every day until December 8, 12–5pm, and there will be a closing event on Sunday, December 8 from 1pm, program to be announced. The artworks featured are available to buy now via online auction.