Arabic version: شوالهافن ترفض عملاً فنياً تذكارياً لغزة بسبب مخاوف تتعلق بالسلامة

According to The Guardian, Shoalhaven City Council in New South Wales refused a request to display The Wall of Tears at Shoalhaven Regional Gallery in Nowra, saying the installation posed an unacceptable level of risk to gallery staff, visitors and tenants of the building.

Shoalhaven Friends of Palestine had planned to show the work by American artist Phil Buehler on Tuesday. The installation commemorates 18,457 children killed in Gaza between 7 October 2023 and 19 July 2025. It has been exhibited around Australia in recent months, including on the front lawns of Parliament House in Canberra in September, and has also been shown in Adelaide, Perth and New York.

In a risk assessment seen by the newspaper, the council asked organisers to investigate the use of armed guards in response to possible protest, counter-protest, community conflict, verbal abuse, intimidation or disruption linked to politically sensitive subject matter. The group was also asked to reduce the proposed exhibition from eight days to three, limit attendance to RSVPs in a gallery with locked doors, and stop advertising the event because of potential reputational risk to the gallery or council.

Annette Pham of Shoalhaven Friends of Palestine said organisers were prepared to meet the requirements but did not know how to obtain armed guards. Email correspondence showed council chief executive Andrew Constance decided not to host the event, citing staff safety concerns. The council did not directly answer a question about what had triggered those concerns. Pham has arranged for the installation to be displayed at Berry Uniting Church on Thursday. Buehler said he was shocked that the artwork could be considered a safety risk, describing it as a memorial to children.