NSW council blocks Gaza memorial artwork over safety concerns

An artwork commemorating children killed in Gaza will be displayed at a church after a New South Wales council rejected plans to exhibit it at a regional gallery, citing safety concerns. Shoalhaven Friends of Palestine had planned to present American artist Phil Buehler’s Wall of Tears at Shoalhaven Regional Gallery in Nowra on Tuesday.

The installation honours 18,457 children killed in Gaza between 7 October 2023 and 19 July 2025. It was first displayed in New York on 29 January, marking the second anniversary of the death of five-year-old Hind Rajab. She was left bleeding among six dead family members after an Israeli tank targeted their car.

A council risk assessment seen by Guardian Australia asked organisers to investigate hiring armed guards. It identified possible protests, counter-protests and community conflict, along with verbal abuse, intimidation or disruption connected to the exhibition’s politically sensitive subject matter. The council also asked for the proposed eight-day exhibition to be shortened to three days, with attendance limited to people who had registered and gallery doors kept locked.

Organisers were additionally asked to stop advertising the exhibition because hosting it could pose a reputational risk to the gallery or council. Group member Annette Pham said organisers nevertheless replied that they would meet all the requirements. “We didn’t even know where we could get armed guards, or if you could get them,” she said.

Email correspondence showed that council chief executive Andrew Constance, a former Liberal MP, subsequently decided against the exhibition because of concerns about staff safety. Pham challenged the decision in an email, saying the council had not disclosed any specific credible threat of violence. A council spokesperson said the installation presented an unacceptable risk to staff, visitors and building tenants. The council did not directly answer Guardian Australia’s question about what had prompted those concerns. Pham has since arranged for the work to appear at Berry Uniting Church on Thursday.

Buehler expressed shock that the installation, which has appeared in cities internationally, could be considered dangerous. “They’re children. They’re like your children, my children,” he said. He described photographs showing children with graduation diplomas, footballs and relatives, and said making the work had been emotionally difficult. The artwork draws on Guardian reporting, and Buehler said its death toll figures were accepted by Israel.

The Australian tour has included Adelaide, Western Australia’s state parliament in Perth and the lawns of federal Parliament House in Canberra in September. Dr Mairead Heaney, whose group Perth Doctors Medical Aid for Palestine helped arrange the parliamentary displays, said Labor, Greens and independent MPs visited the Canberra exhibition. Among them was Labor MP Tony Zappia, who spoke in parliament about the work and the Palestinian losses and suffering it commemorated.