An inner-city council in Melbourne will remove a mural after finding it unintentionally caused offence to the local Jewish community.
The mayor of Port Phillip, Heather Cunsolo, on Friday confirmed the council will begin the process of removing the mural painted above the Coles in Carlisle Street in Balaclava after it received a “large volume of complaints” about the figures depicted.
Both Cunsolo and members of the Jewish community have said they have no doubt the artist, Michael Porter, did not mean to cause offence by the piece, commissioned prior to the Israel-Hamas war.
“We realise that regardless of the artist’s intentions, the portraits have deeply upset and divided members of our community and for that we apologise,” Cunsolo said.
“Our city’s thriving arts program aims to provide vibrancy, colour and life to our shopping precincts and assist in creating an environment where everybody feels welcomed.
“Our community has told us these murals have achieved the opposite impact and we are deeply regretful that that has occurred.”
Cunsolo said the council reached out to several Jewish community leaders for advice when it was first made aware that the “artist’s figures could be interpreted as antisemitic”.
“Whilst no concerns were raised, the current conflict has understandably heightened sensitivities and council has no desire to add to the pain and distress many of our community are already feeling,” she said.
She said work to remove the portraits had begun on Friday afternoon and was expected to take several days.
The council will also evaluate other art projects in progress and tighten its processes “to ensure that such distress and upset is not repeated”, Cunsolo added.
Zionism Victoria executive director, Zeddy Lawrence, said he was not consulted on the piece nor was he aware of anyone who had been.
“I’m not sure which Jewish leaders that they spoke to but I would have thought it was fairly obvious that it wasn’t appropriate imagery for Carlisle Street in Balaclava,” Lawrence said.
He said while the art appeared to be follow Porter’s longstanding “style”, the images were inappropriate for the neighbourhood, which has one of the largest Jewish populations in the country.
“Someone somewhere may have made a very poor judgment call as to what would be appropriate to feature on the facades of Carlisle Street,” he said.
“But it’s encouraging that they [the council] have heard local concerns, are responding to them, and are taking the appropriate measures to remove the artwork, which could certainly be considered offensive.”
Victorian Liberal MP David Southwick, whose electorate of Caulfield takes in Balaclava, said he had many locals reach out to him feeling “angry, hurt and confused” by the mural.
“When tensions are running high and the Jewish community is feeling vulnerable, it’s disappointing that council didn’t engage with them before wasting ratepayers’ money on something as inflammatory as this,” he said.
“This was meant to activate an already struggling Carlisle Street, not offend people and turn them away”.
The council earlier this week took to Facebook to promote the mural as part of its “People Of Balaclava” project.
The post had said the goal of the artwork was to “activate the upper facades of over 20 buildings” and were “depictions of many of the characters of Carlisle Street”.
Comment has been sought from the artist who, according to Sky News, has said that he was in no way depicting Jewish people in the mural.
