Australian artist will no longer feature at next Venice Biennale due to controversial references to Hezbollah
Artist Khaled Sabsabi will no longer be representing Australia at the Venice Biennale in 2026 due to his controversial works depicting Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.
Just last week, Sabsabi was celebrating this career milestone alongside Michael Dagostino, the director of Sydney University’s Chau Chak Wing Museum, who was going to curate the Australia pavilion.
But things took a turn on 13th February, when it was announced by The Australian that Sabsabi would no longer be participating due to his “questionable and ambiguous usage of Hassan Nasrallah, the dead Hezbollah leader” in one of his works.
There have been multiple references to the Hezbollah leader in Sabsabi’s works, for example, a video installation that has now been archived by the Museum of Contemporary Art in Australia.
Sabsabi fails to mention in his work that Hezbollah is a terrorist organization, simply describing it as, “a paramilitary and political organisation”.
Hezbollah is recognised as a terrorist organisation by 60 countries and Nasrallah was the secretary-general of this militia group for over two decades.
Following last year’s victory, where Australia’s Indigenous artist, Archie Moore, won a Golden Lion for his work, it is unclear what this debacle means for Australia’s representation in the upcoming Biennale.
