London gallery cancels pro-Palestine exhibition following legal pressure
Artist Matthew Collings defends 130-piece collection as political critique, citing police findings that found no criminal intent or anti-Semitic content.
The London venue Delta House has cancelled the scheduled May showing of Matthew Collings’ exhibition, Drawings Against Genocide, following intervention by the campaign group UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI). The decision comes after the group sent a letter to the gallery warning that the 130 drawings might breach public disorder laws, potentially exposing the venue to fines. Collings, an English artist based in Norfolk, has strongly defended the work, stating it targets the Israeli state and the ideology of Zionism rather than Jewish people.
The exhibition, which previously debuted in Margate earlier this year, features imagery depicting violence against Palestinians alongside portraits of various political and business leaders. UKLFI claimed the images relied on anti-Semitic tropes and dehumanising narratives. However, Collings clarified that of the 30 recognisable public figures depicted, half are portrayed positively, including historical and contemporary Jewish intellectuals such as Walter Benjamin, Hannah Arendt, and Norman Finkelstein. He described one controversial piece featuring comedian Jerry Seinfeld as an artistic metaphor for brutality, not a literal depiction of Jewish people.
Kent Police previously investigated the Margate iteration of the show following complaints from pro-Israel activists, including writer Zoe Strimpel. The force concluded that the artwork was critical of state actions but did not contain content directly abusive towards Jewish people, nor was there evidence of intent to stir up racial or religious hatred. Despite this finding, Kent Police later launched an investigation into a possible distributed denial-of-service attack after receiving over 1,000 nearly identical emails from pro-Israel senders challenging their decision.
Anna Ost of the European Legal Support Center noted that UKLFI appears 128 times in the organisation’s Britain’s Index of Repression, with 20 cases specifically targeting cultural institutions. Ost described the cancellation as part of a pattern of legally baseless threats aimed at suppressing pro-Palestine expression. David Cannon of the Jewish Network for Palestine echoed this, describing the suppression of such expression as systemic, citing similar interventions at the British Museum.
Collings expressed disappointment at the lack of public support from the broader art world, noting that while some established artists privately backed him, few were willing to speak out publicly. He described the cancellation as an act of intimidation and warned that venues lacking activist commitment are vulnerable to similar pressure. Despite the setback, Collings confirmed that upcoming shows are still scheduled to proceed in the UK and Australia.
