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London Gallery Cancels Matthew Collings Exhibition After Legal Concerns Over Public Disorder Laws
A London venue cancelled the May 2026 showing of Matthew Collings's exhibition after UK Lawyers for Israel warned that images were likely to breach public disorder laws. The show, which opened earlier in 2026 in Margate with 130 drawings, drew police complaints that Kent Police dismissed.
May 14, 4:30 AM·3m read1 source
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A London gallery cancelled the scheduled May 2026 iteration of Matthew Collings's Drawings Against Genocide exhibition after UK Lawyers for Israel sent a letter claiming that many images were likely to breach public disorder laws. Delta House in London cancelled the show. UK Lawyers for Israel stated on its website that it welcomed the decision to cancel the exhibition at Delta House.
The exhibition had debuted earlier in 2026 at Joseph Wales Studios in Margate. It consisted of 130 drawings depicting violence against Palestinians. Since October 2023, approximately one third of Collings's more than 3,000 drawings, produced over the past six years since he moved away from art commentary and criticism, have focused on Israel’s genocide against Palestinians.
Matthew Collings, an English artist in his 70s living in Norfolk, United Kingdom, responded directly to the accusations. “It’s very clear in the title what they’re against, they’re not against Jews. They’re against genocide.
The genocide isn’t committed by Jews. It’s committed by Zionists. It’s committed by Israel, which is a state that would not exist were it not for Zionism,” he stated. ” Of the 130 drawings in the exhibition, 30 feature recognisable public figures who are Jewish.
Collings stated that half of those 30 “are heroes in my eyes” including depictions of Moses teaching “Thou shalt not kill” and a tea party with Walter Benjamin, Hannah Arendt, Karl Marx, and Norman Finkelstein. One drawing depicts American comedian Jerry Seinfeld with demons and monsters as “artistic metaphors for Zionism, brutality, and violence”.
