A Statement from the Liminal Editors

Leah Jing McIntosh & Cher Tan 

“I thought democracies died quickly or loudly, but it turns out to be more like drowning. Death in the water isn’t how we picture it; it isn’t loud splashing or a frantic struggle for air. Instead, more commonly, someone simply slips below the surface—and, by the time anyone notices, it’s too late.”

—Elizabeth Flux, “This is Probably Sedition”, from Against Disappearance (2022)

Liminal stands in solidarity with artist Khaled Sabsabi and curator Michael Dagostino. We are alarmed by Creative Australia's decision to rescind their 2026 Venice Biennale Commission. Censorship of artistic expression in Australia cannot be ignored nor tolerated.

We echo the sentiments of our peers across the Australian arts community expressed over these past ten days, and join with them to make clear that Sabsabi and Dagostino were selected for Venice through a rigorous process, and the lack of transparency from Creative Australia concerning their abrupt dismissal sets a deeply troubling precedent. Creative Australia has a responsibility to defend Australian artists against bad-faith attacks within a racist media landscape: the Creative Australia Act 2023 requires the funding body to “uphold and promote freedom of expression in the arts and to support Australian arts practice that reflects the diversity of Australia”, where decision-making is to occur at “arm’s-length from the minister responsible for the arts”. Such independence is vital to protecting freedom of artistic expression, without which artists cannot provoke critical conversations essential to a thriving democracy. We can only look to history, and to authoritarian and illiberal governments, to notice that repressive regimes who wish to silence dissent are quick to target artists, recognising their power to inspire and drive societal change.  

As an anti-racist arts publication which receives funding from Creative Australia, the political pressure surrounding this decision is something we cannot abide. As artists writing and creating from the margins, we know how fraught it is to have our critiques of colonialism and empire censored or weaponised. At the time of writing, diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives are being swiftly dismantled in the United States, their government removing arts funding from underserved groups and communities to serve right-wing objectives. We turn to our own history and are reminded that anti-Asian racism in Australia is older than the country itself: we can trace anti-Asian sentiment from the Chinese Immigration Act of 1855, to the Lambing Flat Riots in 1860-61; the Immigration Restriction Act in 1901, which introduced the White Australia Policy, only officially dismantled in 1975. Our ambivalent inclusion is always shadowed by this history of violent exclusion, which returns time and time again.

Since October 7, 2023, the West has increased attacks on those who speak in support of Palestine. Reporting from The Australian takes particular issue with Sabsabi’s boycott of the Sydney Festival in 2022 over Zionist funding. Indeed, anti-Palestinian racism and Islamophobia have been heightened across the world, with the Australian Palestine Advocacy Network noting last week that “we now are witnessing a full-blown assault on those who stand for Palestinian rights, justice and liberation; on our grassroots movement for Palestine; and on freedom of expression.”

There have been many instances of suppression in the last fifteen months, including journalist Antoinette Lattouf’s unlawful termination from the ABC; a campaign of hate against academic Dr. Randa Abdel-Fattah; writers Jinghua Qian, Alison Evans, Ariel Ries and Omar Sakr’s cancelled workshops at the State Library of Victoria; the National Gallery of Australia physically censoring an artwork that featured Palestinian flags; attacks on Professor Chelsea Watego and the Carumba Institute for hosting an anti-racism conference; composer Jayson Gillham's cancelled performance at the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, among others. This is only a snapshot of the censorship occurring across arts and media in Australia. Elsewhere, students face suspension and expulsion at public universities, and anti-genocide protesters have been unjustly charged, revealing just how severely such attacks on freedom of speech have suffused public life.

Describing the work they do as an institution accountable to artists, Creative Australia states: “art and creativity define us, recording what we have been and what we might yet become.” We stand against censorship of this record. We stand against the silencing of expression–artistic or otherwise. We call for Creative Australia to reinstate Khaled Sabsabi and Michael Dagostino. 

Leah Jing McIntosh and Cher Tan
Liminal Editors, February 2025 

 
 
Cher Tan