Racism or criticism of China? Debate on free speech in Australia arises amid anti-Asian violence

Australian artist Luke Cornish felt he had been censored after several artworks accused of fuelling Sinophobia were removed from an exhibition

But amid frosty Australia-China ties and rising anti-Asian violence worldwide, there are concerns of further marginalisation of Chinese students in Australia

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Visitors at an aMBUSH Gallery exhibition in Canberra on March 11, 2021. Photo: Facebook/aMBUSH Gallery

Published: 6:00am, 8 Apr 2021Updated: 3:59pm, 22 Apr 2021

When Australian artist Luke Cornish launched his latest exhibition “Don’t Shoot the Messenger” in Canberra last month, he billed the collection of 54 stencil works as a commentary on authoritarianism, protest and injustice in countries including the United States, China and Australia.

But it was the works that focused on China that incited a backlash, resulting in three of the six related to the country being removed.

These were an image of a 10-yuan banknote showing former Chinese leader Mao Zedong dressed as Batman; one showing Winnie the Pooh, a character associated with caricatures of Chinese President Xi Jinping, strangling Tigger; and the other featuring Mao overlaid with markers used in facial recognition software. The latter two were intended as critiques of Beijing’s treatment of Muslim-minority Uygurs, which include mass surveillance and keeping them in interment facilities to undergo political indoctrination, and China’s social credit system.

About 30 to 40 Chinese students at the Australian National University, where the aMBUSH Gallery that hosted the exhibition is located, took to social media to accuse Cornish of perpetuating Sinophobia and racism at a time when attacks against Asians have surged worldwide. Many have blamed ex-US President Donald Trump’s rhetoric against China and for referring to Covid-19 as the “China virus” for fanning hate crimes.

Cornish admitted the Batman piece, described as a satire of conspiracy theories about the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic, could be perceived as discriminatory and apologised for any offence caused.

But he questioned the removal of the two exhibits relating to Uygurs and the social credit system, pointing out that his other works at the exhibition highlighted the mistreatment of Aboriginal people in Australia and the Black Lives Matter movement in the US.

“The exhibition as a whole is targeting abuses of power, and the protest of it, from all countries, not just China, and the influence the people online had of stifling any conversation about the issue is a concern in Australia,” said Cornish, who goes by E.L.K in the art world.