A painting which features a screaming woman with a Swastika overhead, by a 16-year-old called Andy, is one of three pieces mentioned in a complaint letter from the Board of Deputies of British Jews. In a piece now removed from the RA’s website, the artist said he “created this piece of work inspired by the recent conflict in Gaza”, and added that he felt the conflict “draws many parallels with the Nazis’ oppression”. Two other artworks inspired by the conflict between Israel and Hamas were also described as “causing significant concern to members of our community” by the board.
One was a piece entitled The Mass Slaughter Of Defenceless Women And Children Is Not How You Deradicalise Gaza, and featured a plane with the Star of David on it in front of bodies in burial shrouds, by RA member Michael Sandle, 88. The other showed a person standing behind a sign that reads “Jews say stop genocide on Palestinians not in our name”, by an 18-year-old named Kausar The board said the work “appears to be a submission from someone non-Jewish”. Two of the pieces were displayed in the sixth annual Young Artists’ Summer Show, while Sandle’s features in the RA’s main summer exhibition as portrait number 425.
The letter from the Board of Deputies of British Jews said: “We would question the judgement of allowing these pictures with their highly politically charged and controversial messages into the RA’s summer exhibitions, particularly with no attempt to presen.
