A South African artist is suing the arts minister after he blocked her from representing the country at the Venice Biennale, having called her work addressing Israel’s killing of Palestinians in Gaza “highly divisive”.

Gabrielle Goliath filed the lawsuit last week, with Ingrid Masondo, who would have curated the pavilion, and the studio manager, James Macdonald. It accuses Gayton McKenzie of acting unlawfully and violating the right to freedom of expression and demands the high court reinstates her participation by 18 February, the deadline for confirming installations with biennale organisers.

Gayton McKenzie said Elergy was related to a ‘widely polarising’ conflict. Photograph: Gallo Images/Getty Images

Goliath, whose video work Elegy pays tribute to a Palestinian poet killed by an Israeli airstrike, told the Guardian: “We hope to reclaim the pavilion, which we believe is rightfully ours.

“But more importantly than that, it is the significance of the work … that speaks far more eloquently to these very difficult questions of whose life is recognised as a life worth grieving after.”

The Venice Biennale rotates between art and architecture each year. A main exhibition features works chosen by a central curator, while governments organise national exhibition pavilions. In 2024, 86 nations participated.

McKenzie responded to the backlash in a statement earlier this month, indicating his concern originated from the suggestion that “a foreign country” had offered to fund South Africa’s exhibition, and alleging that South Africa’s platform was being “used as a proxy by a foreign power to endorse a geopolitical message about the actions of Israel in Gaza”.

The statement seemed to refer to Qatar Museums’ inquiry about the possibility of funding South Africa’s pavilion and buying the artworks, before Goliath was selected by an independent panel.

These discussions did not go anywhere, Goliath’s affidavit said. Goliath said: “I utterly reject the accusation of foreign capture,” calling it a “damaging conspiracy theory”.

A still from Gabrielle Goliath’s video installation Elegy. Photograph: Andrea Rossetti/Héctor Chico

McKenzie, in a letter on 22 December included in Goliath’s court filing, said: “The subject matter, as outlined, is known to be highly divisive in nature and is related to an ongoing international conflict that is widely polarising.”

A second letter, dated 2 January, said: “It would not be wise or defensible for South Africa to support an installation against a country currently accused of genocide, while we as South Africa are also fielding unjustified accusations of genocide.”

South Africa’s government launched a lawsuit in 2023 accusing Israel of committing genocide in Gaza. Before McKenzie’s Patriotic Alliance party joined a national coalition government in 2024, McKenzie had said there was “no genocide” of Palestinians. Donald Trump and US officials have falsely claimed there is a “white genocide” in South Africa.

A scene from Gabrielle Goliath’s Elegy. Photograph: Courtesy the artist

Goliath had planned to exhibit three videos of Elegy, a work that has been shown for more than a decade, in which female singers take turns to step on to a dais and sing the same note. One video was to honour the Palestinian poet Hiba Abu Nada, who was killed alongside her son by an Israeli airstrike on Khan Younis on 20 October 2023.

The other videos would have paid tribute to Ipeleng Christine Moholane, a 19-year-old murdered in South Africa in 2015, and two female victims of the German genocide in Namibia.

The minister’s decision provoked outrage among South African artists, with groups of writers and non-profits also signing open letters condemning Goliath’s removal. The Democratic Alliance, which is in the national coalition, reported him to the country’s public watchdog.

The minister and his department have not made public any plans to replace Goliath’s work in Venice. McKenzie’s spokesperson did not respond to follow-up questions.

In July 2025, the Lebanese-Australian artist Khaled Sabsabi was reinstated as Australia’s representative at the 2026 biennale. He had been dropped that February after controversy over some of his past works, including a depiction of the former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and a video rendering of the 9/11 attacks on the US.