Anti-genocide exhibition opens in Scottish gallery after London expulsion

AN anti-genocide exhibition has opened in Scotland after its showing in London was cancelled following complaints from a lobby group. Drawings against Genocide, put together by Matthew Collings, depict world leaders, like Keir Starmer and Donald Trump, being dictated to by Israel and complicit in Palestinian's deaths. READ MORE: Report reveals Israeli forces' sexual violence against Palestinians One picture shows Lisa Nandy saying "I am paid by Israel" and "I am a zionist," a term Nandy has previously identified with. The drawings found a supporter in the Merz Gallery in Dumfries and opened on July 3 after a London gallery cancelled when UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI) objected, claiming the images were anti-Semitic. A statement from UKLFI said that they had a “range of concerns, including depictions that demonised Jews and Israelis, promoted conspiracy theories about Jewish control, and drew comparisons between Israel and Nazi Germany”. READ MORE: MSP says 'no' to nuclear power plant as UK Government eyes Fife But Collings said: "Our political leaders and mass media tell us if we express shock out loud about genocide, we are antisemitic. "The reason for the lie is to cloud the reality of mass murder [and] draw attention to the fact that you can do anything. All political leaders, and the mass media, cover up Israel's depravity." Collings says the drawings "may not be to everyone's taste", but the message should strike a chord and raise "consciousness about hell". The gallery also exhibits Scottish artist Jane Frere’s Erasure. The 2017 work – murals filling two walls highlighting the rise of the extreme right – was controversially altered by Edinburgh’s Summerhall Arts management last year to remove references to Nazis and a swastika symbol. “Ironically it reminded me of how the Nazis removed modern art which they considered ‘degenerate’ in the Thirties,” Frere said. Merz Gallery director Dr David Rushton added it is “important that galleries should not be held answerable to property owners and councils, and must be free to stand by artists who are prepared to hold truth to power”. The exhibition of Collings’ and Frere’s works will be held at Merz Gallery, on Queens Road in Sanquhar, until July 5.