And Poetry Will No Longer Serve

And Poetry Will No Longer Serve features works by over fifty artists, thinkers, and collectives, primarily Iranian, Palestinian, and from other parts of the world, all of whom have lived experiences of systematic oppression and its consequences. The collection aims to depict the complex and challenging history of the colonisation of Palestine from the last century to the present day.

Although this collection is not a media-centric exhibition, it includes firsthand documents and interviews from individuals directly affected, revealing the connections between some artworks and their contexts. The exhibition showcases expressions of resistance or reactions to violence through art. Some works are in direct dialogue with protests, while others reflect the enduring impacts of repression and violence. Produced from the mid-last century to today, these works are being displayed together for the first time. In an era where global protests in the streets address issues of genocide, violence, and more, And Poetry Will No Longer Serve engages with protest through a diverse collection of works developed outside mainstream currents.

Following the indefensible Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, during which 1,200 civilians were killed and 240 others taken hostage, the Israeli government launched military and inhumane attacks against the people of Gaza, resulting in 56,000 deaths by the end of June 2025. According to the UN Human Rights Office, 70% of these casualties are women and children. This humanitarian catastrophe, along with the widespread killing of civilians (which is difficult to distinguish from genocide, yet the Israeli government continues to justify it by referencing the nature of the Hamas attack), has cast a suffocating shadow over cultural sectors worldwide, where freedom of expression is under threat.

In this atmosphere, a group of artists, alongside peace-loving friends around the world, in solidarity with the grieving people of the region, strive to break the wall of silence and indifference. Through their art, they aim to amplify the voice of the people in the Middle East and collectively demand an immediate ceasefire. Stop the war today.

And Poetry Will No Longer Serve takes a stand in addressing the current war in Palestine and the fabricated culture wars being waged by the political right and centre stage, arguing that the arts must resist the forces that would otherwise silence them.

The question of where to start this conversation is similarly a political one. Where on the timeline of events do we start what feels a long, divisive, and dividing history between Israel and Palestine? In effect, the question of silencing is perhaps the central ground here, and the forces creating these conditions have increasingly been felt since the breakout of this conflict.