Noguchi Museum Staff Stage Walkout over Keffiyeh Ban

Workers at theNoguchi Museumin Queens, New York, walked off the job on August 21 in protest of the institution’s recently implemented internal dress code, which prohibits employees from wearing keffiyehs on-site,Artnewsreports. The work stoppage over the ban—in which all gallery attendants and shop staff participated while outside security staff temporarily filled their roles—was the second to date, following an August 15 action.

Said by employees to have been instituted after a staffer wore the Palestinian headscarf to work on August 14, the ban has been condemned by fifty-four of the museum’s seventy-two workers. The dissenting majority signed a petition, sent to management on August 19, calling for the policy to be retracted and for those protesting the ban or wearing keffiyehs not to be subject to punishment.

Workers who decried the ban in a statement published in part by the Art Newspaper, Hyperallergic, and Artnews described it as “censorship” and called it “particularly worrisome” in light of the personal history of sculptor Isamu Noguchi, “who himself faced discrimination and voluntary internment as a Japanese-American, and created work that directly addressed political themes, including crimes against humanity, and he intended for his art to be explored by a wide variety of perspective.” The statement continued, “The policy was enacted by leadership as an attempt to take a neutral stance, yet banning the keffiyeh is distinctly anti-Palestinian.”

“We recognize that we are living in complex and challenging times, where personal expression and public discourse often intersect in unexpected ways,” a Noguchi Museum spokesperson told Artnews. “Recently, concerns were raised about a staff member wearing a keffiyeh while at work at the Museum. While we understand that the intention behind wearing this garment was to express personal views, we recognize that such expressions can unintentionally alienate segments of our diverse visitorship. We discussed with staff that it is our duty as a public cultural institution to ensure that the museum is welcoming to all.”