English
A memorial art installation listing the names of 18,457 children killed in Gaza has been blocked from display at a publicly funded gallery in New South Wales, Australia. The Shoalhaven City Council refused to host the Wall of Tears installation at the Shoalhaven Regional Gallery in Nowra, citing concerns about staff safety and community conflict.
Council Demands Armed Guards for Children’s Memorial
The installation, created by artist Phil Buehler, records the names of children killed in Gaza between October 7, 2023, and July 19, 2025. Shoalhaven Friends of Palestine organized the planned exhibition. However, the council told organizers they should consider hiring armed guards in case of community conflict.
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Annette Pham, a member of the group, described the council’s response with disbelief. “We were like, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me,’ but we still wrote back to them and said we would meet all the requirements you want,” she said. Pham added that organizers did not even know where to source armed guards. The council also advised them not to advertise the event and pushed to cut the exhibition from eight days to three.
In email correspondence, New South Wales chief executive Andrew Constance opposed the event, citing staff safety concerns. Pham pushed back directly. She wrote that the “very suggestion that armed guards might be necessary for an exhibition commemorating dead children is deeply disturbing.” She further noted that the council had disclosed no specific or credible threat of violence to justify armed protection or metal screening.
Council Cites Unacceptable Risk
A council spokesperson defended the decision in a statement. The installation, the spokesperson said, “was deemed to present an unacceptable level of risk to gallery staff, visitors and tenants of the building.”
Buehler rejected that framing. “If people would just look at that, how can that be dangerous?” he said. “The danger is put on by other people who are trying to turn it into something it’s not.” His work has previously toured Adelaide and Perth without reported incident.
Exhibition Finds New Home at Local Church
Despite the council’s refusal, the Wall of Tears will still go ahead. The Berry Uniting Church agreed to host the installation, with the exhibition opening on Thursday.
This is not the first time Buehler’s memorial has been shown in Australia. In September, the installation appeared in front of Parliament House in Canberra. Before that, it made its public debut in New York on January 29, a date chosen to coincide with the second anniversary of the death of Hind Rajab.
The council’s decision has drawn criticism from supporters of the exhibition, who argue that blocking a children’s memorial from a public gallery raises serious questions about free expression and the role of local government in cultural spaces.
