Sabsabi Defenders
Greetings Warriors
Last year’s Venice Biennale winners are speaking out—and they’re not holding back. Artist Archie Moore and curator Ellie Buttrose, fresh off their Golden Lion win for Australia, are calling for the reinstatement of Khaled Sabsabi and Michael Dagostino as the official 2026 representatives.
If you missed it, Creative Australia made waves (and not the good kind) when they suddenly withdrew Sabsabi and Dagostino’s appointment on February 13—less than a week after announcing them. The move came after political and media scrutiny over some of Sabsabi’s past work, and the backlash has been fierce.
Moore and Buttrose? They’re “appalled” by the decision, calling it a “corruption” of Creative Australia’s core values. They’re especially concerned about how easily the independence of the Australia Pavilion’s selection process was undone. And they’re not alone—the Australian arts community is outraged, with board members and staff resigning in protest.
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Let’s not forget—Moore and Buttrose made history at Venice in 2024. Their pavilion, kith and kin, won Best National Participation, making them the first-ever Australian team to take home the Golden Lion. Their project? A powerful, haunting installation featuring redacted coroners’ reports of Aboriginal deaths in custody, alongside a chalk-drawn genealogy tracing 65,000 years of Moore’s family history. These are artists who understand the power of art to challenge, to reveal, to demand change.
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In their statement, they didn’t mince words:
👉 Creative Australia abandoned its selection process “quickly and without transparency.”
👉 The decision compromises the independence of the organization and threatens its credibility.
👉 To move forward, Creative Australia must return to its mission—supporting artists, defending free expression, and promoting the arts.
As for Sabsabi and Dagostino, they’ve spoken out, calling the whole experience “profoundly traumatic”—both personally and professionally. For now, they’re asking for privacy, but they remain grateful for the overwhelming support from the arts community.
So, here’s the big question: Should Creative Australia reverse its decision and reinstate Sabsabi and Dagostino? And on a larger scale—what does this mean for artistic freedom in Australia?
Drop your thoughts below. 👇🔥
