To think this so called art exhibition in Margate is nothing short of a hate crime

I have emailed
[email protected]

asking for their reasons for holding the MC exhibition.

Please don’t stay silent, please ask questions.

"The UK now seems to be at the same stage as Nazi Germany in the early 1930s" Regrettably, also my conclusion

I suppose we could write to Thanet council to ask why they haven’t closed down this exhibition which does outrage public decency?
The UK now seems to be at the same stage as Nazi Germany in the early 1930s!

I could see how one of MC's quasi six year old's ability works I've seen, could be compared to say how Guernica resonated as an anti war painting, that doesn't explain how he could justify the "Hey look I'm selling a fantastic painting while eating a baby" one That was the sort of abhorrent falsehood peddled against the Jews by then, hateful Christian ignorance and bigotry down the centuries and then cranked up in Nazi Germany.

We know the sensitivities that pertain around images of Allah and Mohammed, for what it's worth in my opinion, even flying in the face of free expression/speech, I thought the Charlie Hebdo cartoons were appalling, and in both their publication being allowed and the atrocity that ensued but that's a whole different issue although in comparison I think Jews are expected to suck up derogatory insults in a way we, understandably respect the sensitivities of what would be considered a comparative insult to the Muslim community.

What is almost amusing/hilarious is that Collings references Goya and The Disasters of War. At least Goya could draw. Collings drawings are so technically 21st century and so bad, it’s painful to look at them. So much for beauty in art.

I actually perceive anti Jewish rhetoric is perceived as perfectly acceptable by "some" of left wing persuasion almost encouraged, in a way it would be considered condemnatory against other demographics.

I don't think the perception, that one demographic is protected and the feeling from those in the Jewish community that they just aren't is unfounded. It doesn't bode well for an egalitarian society imo, on the contrary an unjust and dangerous one.

sixandahalf

Oreo

Had it been anti Muslim artwork it would have been gone pdq.
What does that say about the police and Thanet Council.

What does your post say about you I wonder?

I think it says Oreo is absolutely spot on.

What do you think it says about Oreo sixandahalf?

That I’m Jewish and worried about the amount of antisemitism in the UK I would think Sixandahalf

Oreo

Had it been anti Muslim artwork it would have been gone pdq.
What does that say about the police and Thanet Council.

What does your post say about you I wonder?

TerriBull excellent post 👍

Netenyahu and the state of Israel aside, there seems to be no protection as to what can be levied at the ordinary Jewish community who just want to exist in peace and without fear.

Rising star in the Green Party, Tope Olawoyin has suggested that the destruction of the ambulances in Golders Green was an "inside job" done by a fellow Jew. She doesn't substantiate her wild accusation, which reinforces my opinion, the so called protections against hate speech against the Jewish community just isn't there in the way it appears to be stringently enforced around slandering other demographics. The Green party, who ironically have a Jewish man as their leader, appears to harbour their very own anti semites as displayed by a WhatsApp message referring to Jewish people as "an abomination to this planet" and given the party appear to promote themselves as a vanguard against the far right, I'm wondering how such perceived slurs differ that much between far right racist rhetoric and an obvious anti semite discourse

Oreo I think your assumption is correct, which is very sad and frightening for my Jewish friends and all Jews currently in the U.K..

Had it been anti Muslim artwork it would have been gone pdq.
What does that say about the police and Thanet Council.

Allira

^Matthew Collings, the artist behind an allegedly antisemitic art exhibition in Kent, has shared social media posts seemingly defending Hamas, appearing to deny or minimise the Holocaust, and suggesting the Hatzola ambulance arson attack was a false flag, the JC can reveal.^

In October 2025, he reshared a post on X that said: “I don’t want peace with Israel, I want Israel gone. There is no peace with genocidal maniacs. No two-state solution. It’s one state, and it’s called Palestine. I am not a Hamas ‘apologist’, they have done nothing to apologise for.”
Jewish Chronicle.

The man is a disgrace and the police, who say the artwork is not insulting to Jews and does not meet the threshold for a hate crime need to think again. Which police officer decided that?

How about this Graphite?
“Hamas have done nothing to apologise for” !
Despite any mealy mouthed words from the artist about separating Israelis and Jews from Zionism it’s quite obvious that he doesn’t.
The police should seek guidance if they don’t see it as a hate crime.Far lesser things have a couple of burly cops on your doorstep! Saying something is merely Art when there’s such an agenda behind it is absolute rubbish.

Graphite I'm not going to flame you as I was looking up Collings work as a whole

Becuase we are talking about just 1 to 3 images from an exhibition out of context and not from Collings whole body of work(but crucially what I couldn't find, I don't think it exists) the breadth of images in the exhibition. I think the points you make are valid
"without seeking to understand what Collings is saying about war and genocide"...And the police having viewed it, find the same?

Without seeing it as a whole and read everything I can I genuinely do not now know whether it should be shot down in flames or perhaps whether some work should be removed

Most of his work is like this www.schoolgallery.co.uk/matthew-collings-available-works

I stand corrected, as pointed out up -thread, it's the Turner Gallery not the Tate, I think I'd conflated it's modern edifice in mixing it up with the Tate. Yes! Tracy Emin lives in Margate and has had much to do with establishing an art community in that town which has drawn some of the newer residents out of London. Good train links back into London I'm told

Graphite but is it for Collings to say that there should only be Palestine and Israel should not exist?

Collings’ work reminds me of Max Beckman especially the latter’s Hölle Der Vögel (1937-38) (Bird’s Hell) which, nine years ago at Christie’s, sold for £36 million (it is believed to Jewish American billionaire financier Leon Black friend of Jeffrey Epstein).

Beckman originally called it The Country of the Insane as a reference to the brutality and popularity of the Nazi regime. There’s a lone, human figure being tortured in the foreground interpreted as the Nazi's assault on the rights of the individual and its use of political violence.

Hitler hated Expressionism and deemed it degenerate. Beckman’s work was confiscated; he had to flee Germany and never returned.

How does Beckman’s work differ from what Collings is trying to say about the brutality of Israel and its assault on the the people of Palestine (and now other parts of the Middle East)?

Collings makes it very clear (image attached) that he sees Zionism and the Jewish faith as two different things, which they are. He says: Zionist irrational hate for Palestinians is my target … Zionism has caused so much misery to the Palestinians that nobody with a heart can stand it any more. Do people condemning this exhibition disagree with that?

Collings has a right to criticise Israel’s belligerence under Netanyahu. Indeed there have been several threads here extremely critical of his actions and Trump’s support. How is that different?

Sometimes art is created deliberately to shock and generate debate. You might like to read this by Aaron Rosen, Professor of Religion & Visual Culture and Director of the Henry Luce III Center for the Arts & Religion at Wesley Theological Seminary, Washington, DC and Visiting Professor at King’s College London:

www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2015/oct/23/offensive-art-holy-book-bomb-chocolate-jesus

www.kcl.ac.uk/people/aaron-rosen

Note what he says about Gregor Schneider’s work whose exhibitions were cancelled to avoid offending Muslims and as a security measure against terrorist retribution.

Whether Muslims really deem an artwork offensive often gets obscured by what non-Muslims think Muslims will feel. The potential threat posed by a tiny, yet flagrantly violent, minority dictates the discussion. It has become increasingly difficult (especially in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo attack) to discuss in any nuanced way if, how, and why certain images might be offensive to Muslims.

The idea of artists as iconoclasts on a quest to offend is compelling. Yet it tells only a fraction of the story. Art should challenge us. It should perforate our pieties, religious or otherwise … The people who need it to be offensive are the ideologues, who may never set foot in a gallery.

It seems to me that outrage is being shown in some parts of the media and here without seeking to understand what Collings is saying about war and genocide - not so different to Beckman or indeed Picasso’s depiction of the bombing of Guernica by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy and Dumile Feni's African Guernica about living under apartheid, also now on display at the Reina Sofia in Madrid.

I imagine I will be flamed for this but I am simply trying to put the work into perspective.

I didn't know that twaddle.
I do remember her saying, under the previous Labour government, that she was going to live in France because she was unwilling to pay 50% top rate of tax. France offered better tax advantages for artists.

ronib

I wonder why Thanet was chosen by Collins as the venue for his antisemitism ? Doesn’t it have a history with the National Front?
To what extent therefore has the National Front infiltrated the decision making process in Thanet?

I believe Thanet Council is a majority Labour one at present.

ronib

I wonder why Thanet was chosen by Collins as the venue for his antisemitism ? Doesn’t it have a history with the National Front?
To what extent therefore has the National Front infiltrated the decision making process in Thanet?

The reason for that is probably because Tracey Emin lives in Margate and there's an arty community there.

A district council has the powers to close a private art exhibition if it contravenes the law. So why hasn’t it?

This is in a private gallery and Thanet District Council will neither have been consulted, nor advised, of it's nature.
It would seem from what I have read, that this is a police matter, rather than a local authority issue

The fact that this disgusting exhibition is allowed is chilling.
The message this sends out is clear and is 'meat and drink' to the already unhinged.