NYC Museum's Palestinian Art Nix Under Fire From Anti-Censorship Group

EAST HARLEM, NY - A national anti-censorship group called out an East Harlem museum in an open letter after the museum reportedly canceled its display of a Día de los Muertos altar due to its use of a Palestinian flag.

In a Nov. 2 letter to the directors of El Museo del Barrio, National Coalition Against Censorship arts and culture advocacy program director Elizabeth Larison said the organization is “alarmed” by the museum’s decision to display artwork — commissioned by artists Odalys Burgoa and Roy Baizan — for the “sole reason that the work includes a scarf with the Palestinian flag on it.”

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— National Coalition Against Censorship (@ncacensorship) November 8, 2023

“Upon the completion of the work—which also commemorates international advocates for the poor, for the indigenous, and for the colonized—Baizan and Burgoa learned that El Museo would not display the altar publicly on account that the artists added to it a scarf emblazoned with the Palestinian flag,” Larison wrote. “The artists’ suggestion that the museum could put up a disclaimer next to the artwork was rejected.”

El Museo del Barrio said in a public statement shared with Patch that the artists had “made a last-minute modification to the altar without further consultation or approval from El Museo as required by our contract with them. They converted the Altar from a religious and cultural symbol into a political statement.

"As a museum that is community driven, El Museo del Barrio’s public programming is designed to be a welcoming and safe space for all audiences, regardless of their political views, race, religion, or gender," the museum's statement continued. "After careful consideration, we made the decision not to include Roy Baizan’s modified Altar in our Día de los Muertos celebration."

The New York Times reported last month the museum canceled a fundraiser where the piece was set to be prominently displayed, though officials said the fundraiser cancellation was separate from the issues with the artists and the artwork.

“We were commemorating lots of activists,” Baizan told The New York Times. “It was about saying that all our struggles are interconnected.”

“The Palestinian flag is the reason the altar is censored and to me that’s wrong,” Burgoa told the outlet.

“El Museo was created as an extension of community activism, to showcase art from and to foster arts appreciation among Latinx communities in New York,” Larison said in the Nov. 2 letter. “As such, it has traditionally been willing and prepared to engage with activist ideas and intersectional propositions coming from its constituent communities, rather than suppressing them.”

You can read the full letter from the National Coalition Against Censorship here.