The western Sydney artist, who fled Lebanon’s civil war as a child, has been selected to represent Australia at the world’s oldest and most prestigious exhibitionGet our weekend culture and lifestyle emailKhaled Sabsabi never imagined he would be selected to represent Australia at the world’s oldest and most prestigious contemporary art exhibition – let alone in the current political climate.“I was quite shocked,” he said. “To tell you the truth, I have applied four times and I felt that, in this time and in this space, this wouldn’t happen because of who I am.”Sign up for our rundown of must-reads, pop culture and tips for the weekend, every Saturday morning Continue reading…The western Sydney artist, who fled Lebanon’s civil war as a child, has been selected to represent Australia at the world’s oldest and most prestigious exhibitionGet our weekend culture and lifestyle emailKhaled Sabsabi never imagined he would be selected to represent Australia at the world’s oldest and most prestigious contemporary art exhibition – let alone in the current political climate.“I was quite shocked,” he said. “To tell you the truth, I have applied four times and I felt that, in this time and in this space, this wouldn’t happen because of who I am.”Sign up for our rundown of must-reads, pop culture and tips for the weekend, every Saturday morning Continue reading…
Khaled Sabsabi never imagined he would be selected to represent Australia at the world’s oldest and most prestigious contemporary art exhibition – let alone in the current political climate.
“I was quite shocked,” he said. “To tell you the truth, I have applied four times and I felt that, in this time and in this space, this wouldn’t happen because of who I am.”
The award-winning Lebanese-Australian artist has been chosen alongside curator Michael Dagostino as the artistic team to represent Australia at the 61st Venice Biennale in 2026.
“It’s an honour because the majority of my work and my passion and commitment over the years has been about ideas of representation, ideas of identity and looking at breaking stereotypes, especially within the Australian context of Muslims and Arabs,” he said.
Guardian Australia met the duo at Sabsabi’s studio – a garage attached to the family home – on a wide, curved suburban street in Sydney’s south-west. Sabsabi has studied, lived and worked in western Sydney since moving to Australia from Tripoli in 1978 during Lebanon’s civil war.
That traumatic experience, as well as Sufism, multiculturalism, and Arab identity in the west are recurring themes in his body of work, over a career which spans more than 35 years.
“The time where we had to flee Tripoli is probably the most vivid memory that stays with me, even at my age right now,” he said.
“Having the trauma of the civil war, this affects who I am and what I make.”
Sabsabi works across different media, from acrylic paint and oil sticks on paper to large immersive – or as he describes it, “nurturing” – installations involving sound, scents and video.
His 2009 work Fuck Off We’re Full saw the words printed as large glossy black letters against a black gallery wall. A 2011 installation, Naqshbandi Greenacre Engagement, featured three television monitors, a decorative rug and oud perfume, and was described as an invitation to “sit and engage” with Sufi religious practices. And his 2014 video installation, 70,000 Veils, which took 10,000 images and 10 years to make, explores the relationship between religion and spirituality in the digital era.
Before he became a visual artist, Sabsabi was a hip-hop performer in the 1980s. It was through hip-hop that he was exposed to the activism and speeches of “alternative scholars” like Malcolm X, which had a profound influence on him, particularly in regards to activism.
For those familiar with Sabsabi’s art, his decision to withdraw from the 2022 Sydney festival over its sponsorship deal with the Israeli embassy would not have come as a surprise.
“I boycotted for the simple reason that myself and my work are also tied by blood to Palestine, the Palestinian cause and their right to self-determination and their right to return to their lands,” he said.
More than 20 artists boycotted the festival, which lead festival organisers to suspend all funding agreements with foreign governments and their cultural agencies.
But afterwards, Sabsabi said he received threatening messages from unknown individuals, an experience he described as “disturbing”.
“People were texting me with messages like, ‘we know who you are’, and then other times, ‘we know where you live’,” he said.
Reflecting on the last 15 months of Israel’s bombardment of Gaza, Sabsabi said “it’s unacceptable and the world can’t sit and be silent”.
“I feel that since 1948, until now, the region is in constant uncertainty. I feel the only way forward is really for the state of Israel to look within themselves and find another way, because this cannot continue,” he said.
“I genuinely believe that we need to exist and coexist.”
While Sabsabi can’t yet reveal details of the work he has been commissioned to create and exhibit at the Australia Pavilion in 2026, his decades long art practice has moved between exploring spiritual and political themes, including racism and the migrant experience.
“The work that I’ve made has always been what I feel is embedded in my personal experience and that echoes our community’s experience and voice, both locally and internationally,” Sabsabi said.
Dagostino, who was the founding director of Parramatta Artists Studios and is now director of Chau Chak Wing Museum at the University of Sydney, also can’t say what the pair have planned for Venice, though he called it “an amazing opportunity to really showcase what it means to be Australian within the context of western Sydney, within the context of being a son of migrants”.
“So it’s really, really important that we show the capacity of Australia to be a welcoming and compassionate and empathetic country through the art that we create,” Dagostino added.
The pair were selected from a shortlist of six teams based on the advice of a independent industry panel, which included national and international visual arts experts.
Creative Australia’s CEO, Adrian Collette, said Sabsabi’s work in collaboration with Dagostino “reflects the diversity and plurality of Australia’s rich culture, and will spark meaningful conversations with audiences around the world”.
“We are proud to support this extraordinary team as they prepare to showcase their vision at one of the most prestigious platforms for contemporary art.”
Last year, Bigambul-Kamilaroi artist Archie Moore won the Golden Lion at the biennale for his exhibition kith and kin – becoming the first Australian to win the prize.
Asked how he was preparing for the global attention that will come from showing his work on the art world’s biggest stage, Sabsabi said: “I can’t wait.”
“I can’t wait to get in the studio and start making this work.”
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The 61st International Art Exhibition La Biennale di Venezia will take place from April to November 2026
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