LOVE, Robert Indiana, 1965; AIDS, General Idea, 1987; RIOT, Gran Fury, 1988; GAZA, Kyle Goen, 2014
In the last three weeks, over 9,000 Palestinians and 1,400 Israelis have been killed, and every bomb dropped on Gaza and military attack in the West Bank threatens the lives of 2.2 million Palestinians in Gaza and 200 Israeli hostages, and their regional and global diasporas. American taxpayers have blood on our hands. As staff and board members of Queer|Art, we stand in solidarity with the people of Gaza and occupied Palestine, reject state violence against all civilians in the region, and join the demand for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and end to Israeli apartheid.
Queer|Art was founded in response to the politicized mass death of a generation of LGBTQ+ artists living with AIDS. Over the last 40 years, the US government has neglected to meaningfully respond to the AIDS epidemic in the US. At every step, artists have fought back—in the 80s and 90s forming collectives like Gran Fury, General Idea, Fierce Pussy, and DIVA TV. The mission of Queer|Art’s Mentorship program is to build supportive relationships in our community while grappling with the needless deaths of countless queer and trans artists via AIDS and institutional neglect, and the violences against LGBTQ+ communities that persist today. Death is not a metaphor, and neither is the righteous call from so many artists for action.
As an organization composed of LGBTQ+ artists whose values are firmly rooted in a politic of liberation, we possess an enormous responsibility to act now as we witness another moment of US-backed killings of systematically oppressed people in Palestine. Despite threats of censorship and retaliation, many artists and cultural workers, including Queer|Art|Mentorship alumni, are demanding that institutional silence around the unfolding genocide in Gaza be broken. Artists have long been on the frontlines of movements for Palestinian liberation. It is long past time that arts organizations take a stand.
Queer|Art reaffirms the commitments we made in 2022 to the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement to end Israeli occupation, settler-colonialism, and apartheid, as well as the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI). These commitments are outlined below.
Queer|Art refuses to receive funding or subsidies from Israeli institutions at the national and international levels, and commits to promoting divestment and disinvestment from the state of Israel.
In keeping with the cultural boycott called for by Palestinian artists and cultural institutions, and modeled for artists in NYC by Adalah-NY, Queer|Art will not participate in events sponsored by the Israeli government or complicit Israeli institutions in New York, Israel, or anywhere else.
Queer|Art rejects antisemitism in all forms and recognizes it as a co-constitutive part of white supremacy. We oppose any conflation between advocacy of, on the one hand, Palestinian rights and opposition to the apartheid policies of the state of Israel, and on the other, racism, hatred, and discrimination against Jewish people.
Queer|Art hereby calls on other organizations to support the work of the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement to end Israeli occupation, settler-colonialism, and apartheid NOW.
We urge organizations within our shared cultural sector to take actionable steps in solidarity with Palestinians and support the BDS and PACBI movements to end Israeli occupation, settler-colonialism, and apartheid. Moving forward, Queer|Art will continue to participate in coalition-building efforts alongside artists, cultural institutions, activist groups, and organizations committed to the liberation of Palestinian people and the right to dissent. CEASEFIRE NOW!
In solidarity,
Queer|Art Staff and Board: Andrius Alvarez-Backus, Dani Brito, Bee Davis, Lola Flash, Cecilia Gentili, Ellen Marks, L Marmon, Max Rifkind-Barron, Ira Sachs, Nelson Santos, Reya Sehgal, Río Sofia, Fran Tirado, Kei Williams, Tanner Williams
GAZA Love, Three color screen print, Kyle Goen, 2014-ongoing
Action and Educational Links for Cultural Organizations
Queer|Art has compiled some resources that we find most useful for arts and cultural organizations working to act in solidarity with Palestinians and their right to sovereignty:
Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel
Decolonization is Not a Metaphor, article by Eve Tuck and K. Wayne Yang
Since our Call to Action in June of 2020, Queer|Art has been actively engaged in accountability work focusing on challenging white supremacy in our organization and in the arts and queer community. This statement comes out of that ongoing work, and is a reaffirmation of our commitment to doing our part to dismantle white supremacy in all forms.