Indiana University Has Canceled a Retrospective on Artist Samia Halaby

An online petition seeking to have the show reinstated has already received nearly 5,000 signatures.

The cancellation came shortly after Rep. Jim Banks of Indiana, a Republican, sent a letter to the university saying it could lose federal funding if so-called “antisemitism” was allowed on campus.

Halaby, in a statement to the Times, said, “It is clearly my freedom of expression that is under question here.” Artnet News has reached out to Halaby for comment but did not hear back by press time.

The artist was born in Jerusalem in 1936, before the modern state of Israel was created in 1948, forcing the displacement of nearly a million Palestinians. Since 1951, Halaby has been based in the United States. She graduated from Indiana University with an MFA in painting and went on to teach at the Kansas City Art Institute in 1964, where she received a research grant to study geometric abstraction in Islamic architecture in the Mediterranean region. Since then, she has been considered a leading abstract painter and scholar of Palestinian art.

On her Instagram account, the artist has called for solidarity with the Palestinian people, writing on October 21: “Cease fire, open all gates, freedom of movement. Send AID of all manner.”