Lebanese-Australian artist dropped from 2026 Venice Biennale over Nasrallah imagery
Khaled Sabsabi removed from show after article singles out 2007 work featuring late Hezbollah terror leader; Sabsabi says he is ‘extremely hurt and disappointed’ by decision
A Lebanese-Australian artist was dropped last week from the Australia Pavilion for the 2026 Venice Biennale, reportedly due to a 2007 video instillation that featured the late Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.
Creative Australia, the government body for the arts that organizes Australia’s representation to the Venice Biennale, announced last Thursday that it was leaving Khaled Sabsabi out of the exhibition, without giving a specific reason for doing so.
The organization said its selection for the pavilion “poses an unacceptable risk to public support for Australia’s artistic community and could undermine our goal of bringing Australians together through art and creativity.”
Creative Australia’s decision to drop Sabsabi followed criticism of his selection, including a February 12, 2025 article in The Australian titled “Arts council takes creative approach to racism” that singled out Sabsabi’s 2007 art installation “You,” which included images of Hassan Nasrallah, the now assassinated leader of the Iran-backed Lebanese terrorist organization Hezbollah.
The 2007 audiovisual sculpture featured a 2006 speech from Nasrallah, which slowly splinters and fades out as additional audio is layered over his words.
The article asked why the Australian government would select an artist “who seemingly lauded a terrorist leader in his past work” to be a custodian “of our nation’s reputation at this prestigious biennale in Venice?”
Only two days after that article was published, Creative Australia announced it would not include Sabsabi, nor curator Michael Dagostino, in the 2026 pavilion.
Spate of resignations follow Creative Australia's decision to drop artist Khaled Sabsabi from Venice Biennalehttps://t.co/cHH25A1G60 pic.twitter.com/f48zYchekz
— CHASS (@CHASS_Aus) February 16, 2025
In response to being dropped from the show, Sabsabi and Dagostino told ArtReview Magazine that they were “extremely hurt and disappointed in Creative Australia board’s decision to rescind our appointment to represent Australia at the Venice Biennale.”
“Art should not be censored as artists reflect the times they live in,” their statement read. “We believe in the vision of artists for an inclusive future that can bring us together to communicate and progress our shared humanity.”
After the decision was announced, a number of Creative Australia’s board members announced resignations.
One former board member told Australia’s ABC News that he was “appalled” by the decision, and “immediately resigned my role and cancelled my financial support.”
Creative Australia has not yet announced who will be replacing Sabsabi in the event.
Australia has been rocked by a wave of antisemitic attacks and incidents in the wake of the October 7, 2023, Hamas assault on Israel and the subsequent war in Gaza, which Hezbollah joined in support of Hamas.
