Rhode Island School of Design’s (RISD) administration shut down a pro-Palestinian exhibition in a public campus cafe after the X account and doxxing platform StopAntisemistism published images of the show’s artworks.
The exhibition, To Every Orange Tree, was organized by the art school’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (RSJP) and Carr Haus, a student-run cafe accessible to the public. Featuring the work of around 20 artists, including current students and alumni, the show kicked off last Monday, March 17, in an opening attended by nearly 70 people, according to Jo, an RSJP spokesperson who declined to provide their last name. Days later, StopAntisemitism posted photos of the exhibition, asking users to directly contact the administration.
Jo and Sadie, a RISD sophomore and participating artist who works at Carr Haus, said that the school’s public safety officers shut down Carr Haus the day after the post was published on X. They also asked the artists to unmount their work, a request RSJP rejected, Sadie explained.
In an email to students six days later, on Wednesday, March 26, RISD President Crystal Williams said the exhibition had been the “focus of negative public attention, including calls for its removal,” and promised to “condemn antisemitism.” Williams added that the show would be relocated to the Providence Washington building, which is not open to the public, to “uphold safety” and give viewers a chance to “engage with this exhibition of their own volition.” Students involved told Hyperallergic they were not consulted about the decision to move the works.
Sadie, who is Jewish and who declined to provide her last name, told Hyperallergic that the only safety concern she was aware of was related to allegations of antisemitism.
“It made me really angry, because it’s a really common thing to conflate antisemitism with anti-Zionism, which are totally different things,” Sadie said. “And it’s very frustrating that the school doesn’t recognize the distinction between those two.”
Artworks displayed in the show included depictions of RSPJ’s takeover of the Providence Washington building (Prov-Wash) last May, when they renamed it “Fathi Ghaben Place” before disbanding the protest occupation after threats of expulsion. One print read, “No rest until RISD divests.” (In January, the art school rejected a proposal to divest from Israeli military interests.)
Other works in the show did not reference Israel or Palestine, instead calling out wage gaps between RISD custodians and the school’s board of trustees. Another print depicted Hawaiʻi’s last monarch before the United States takeover, Queen Liliʻuokalani.
“There’s no mention of violence,” Jules Kang Sharpe, a recent RISD alum and one of the artists included in the exhibition, told Hyperallergic. “It’s very peaceful and respectful.”
In a call for participants in January, RSJP said it was seeking artworks engaging with “anti-imperialist mindsets” and “political resistance.” Organizers and artists told Hyperallergic that the school approved the show, originally set to run through May 2 in the student-run cafe.
“RISD has known about this exhibit for months,” Jo, whose work was in the exhibition, told Hyperallergic. “They never cared about the safety of pro-Palestinian students; they have actively been silent about student organizing and about these threats to safety against us that have also been posted online before, during the occupation last year.”
A RISD spokesperson told Hyperallergic that the “volume and vitriol” of negative attention the exhibition received informed the institution’s decision to move the works to a “more secure location.”
“Relocating the exhibition enables us to prioritize safety, honor our commitments to artistic expression and freedom of speech, and uphold our commitment to a culture of care, particularly in these fraught times,” the spokesperson continued.
The spokesperson did not answer whether there was or is an active safety threat to the campus.
The university said the show will reopen on April 7, after spring break, in its new location. Jo said the school threatened to move the artworks into storage if they were still in the original location by tomorrow afternoon.
Jo and Sadie said they were concerned about the show moving into a private building.
“It’s an anti-imperialist exhibit, so it’s meant to appeal to the public, not just, you know, people with card access,” Sadie said. Jo added that ID swipes could be used to surveil students.
The group has not yet decided to remove the items on their own accord and is encouraging RISD students to demand that the artworks remain in Carr Haus through its original programming.
Sharpe said it was disappointing to see “a school using their time and resources to silence students.”
In light of the recent targeting of pro-Palestinian students, including Mahmoud Khalil and Tufts doctoral student Rumeysa Ozturk, by the Department of Homeland Security, Sharpe said she is concerned about members of the campus community.
“I don’t feel like they’re very protected by the school, and I just feel like silencing their voices is one step in that direction,” Sharpe said.