The Worker conducted an interview with Rebecca Goyette, an artist and activist in New York City who is fighting censorship after she was doxxed by monopoly media and elected officials for an art installation exhibiting support for the Palestine solidarity movement and the Palestinian resistance. The interview has been edited for publication.
1. Tell us about the art installation—what inspired you to put it together, and how was it received?
I was invited to my first residency at Governor’s Island in June by the former studio manager who was interested in the well-known quilt for Palestine that I curated last year that has over a 100 artists who’ve made squares in solidarity with Palestine and with Gaza. The manager said the quilt can’t be out on the lawn, nor can there be any signage outside that indicated that there was an art display in solidarity with Palestine. Instead of hosting an open studio exhibition, I ended up organizing an arts protest where we carried the quilt and marched around the island accompanied by Rude Mechanical Orchestra and Dancers for Palestine, and then joined with city-wide protests happening that day.
In the fall, I ran into the new manager, Kim Darling, who invited me to the residency again for October. Around this time, I had been spending a lot of time protesting the United Nations in advance of the UN General Assembly, where I was being confronted by Zionists all the time, and I started to stand up to them, and through this I was becoming more comfortable with being bolder in my artwork too.
It was Pumpkin Sunday on Governor’s Island, and my studio room was far from the porch where we put Halloween treats, so I moved the treats near the studio and let people come to see the art. It was amazing because a lot of people really enjoyed the work, and really got into the beauty of it. The parents would talk to their kids about Gaza through the artwork, and some of them said they went to protests in solidarity with Palestine every weekend. I had a couple of small Palestinian flags, and I offered it to one of the kids, and she was so happy, she didn’t even want any candy. A lot of people said they related to the installation because they’re part of other anti-colonial struggles.
Then, this first Zionist came in and had a visceral reaction to the work and started screaming at us in front of the guests, and threatened to report us to Governor’s Island. I could see him out the window of my studio talking to people and those people were starting to come in one by one and have the same reaction. Then Kim Darling called me and said, “You need to get out now. You need to take down your work. You need to close the door to the room and not let anybody see it.”
The next day, I was stalked by the New York Post. God only knows how long they were waiting around for me. They were shoving the camera in my face. Then Eric Adams gave a speech right before the mayoral elections, and the first few words of his speech were: “We saw this recent exhibition in Governors Island with artist Rebecca Goyette who made antisemitic art.” I was soon getting all this hate mail, and people were calling my phone.
2. What advice do you have for activists and artists who want to show support for the Palestinian resistance but are concerned about censorship?
If you’re doing activism for Palestine, no matter what, you’re getting into all kinds of hot water. If you’re gonna support Palestine, you have to support the Palestinian people’s right to self-defense and self-determination, period, or else you’re not helping. They have the right to self-defense, this occupation is not going to resolve itself unless the Palestinian people have this.
3. How do you think we can combat censorship?
We combat censorship by showing the artwork in a wide variety of spaces where we can share with the widest public possible. As has been my practice with the Quilt for Palestine, if we are not invited to share the work inside cultural institutions, we will take up space outside them. I and artist Gwendolyn Skaggs, who’s work I also shared in the installation, have been facing censorship, for example, getting prior invitations to art shows reversed. But we’re not letting it silence us. I organized a protest outside a gallery that censored me from a nationwide exhibition that purported to collectively “fight fascism” and censorship. We also protested in front of Judson Church, a historically activist space, that censored Skaggs. This is anti-genocide. This is pro-struggle. This is a collective struggle for the liberation of Palestine. And I’m all in.
4. What do you think is the role of art in mass movements?
I think that art adds excitement to the movement because we can think of different ways of saying something—we’re gonna put that flavor into the message, an artist’s touch into it. We’ve been able to visually alter the look of protests and share uncomfortable truths that tap into people’s emotions. When you’re making art about Palestine, you’re using the art to propel the movement forward. Art really can affect people and energizes us. The creativity of art reminds us to be creative in our tactics too.
Photo: Goyette’s art installation. Photo courtesy of Rebecca Goyette
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