Goldstone Gallery closing

Goldstone Gallery, which championed suppressed artistic voices, closed its doors permanently on Sunday, after 18 months and 15 exhibitions.

Under the direction of its curator Nina Sanadze, a renowned artist, the gallery sought to showcase artists from the Jewish community as well as dissident artists from Iran, China and Russia.

Speaking to The AJN, Sanadze said, “We created a place to thrive, not just for ourselves … aligning with people who believe there is real freedom of art and real freedom of speech … we cannot be cancelled.”

Sanadze felt cancelled when she was pushed out of her artist studio for not supporting Hamas after the October 7, 2023, attacks.

She expressed “deep gratitude” to the couple who provided the gallery space rent-free and co-founded the gallery with her at a time when many Jewish creatives felt ostracised from arts spaces.

During its operation, Sanadze sought for Goldstone Gallery to “chronicle our times” – with exhibitions including on October 7, the Adass Israel synagogue arson, and pro-democracy Iranians killed in protests.

Sanadze said it had become not just a gallery but also built community amongst Jews and non-Jews, and she hopes the “Goldstone community” will continue even though the doors are being shut in Collingwood.

Discussing the reasons for its closure, Sanadze pointed to lack of funds. She said she had worked as the curator in a voluntary capacity since it opened and had not been paid and was unable to continue to run it without a salaried manager given the amount of work involved.

Sanadze is currently focused on creating art from the flowers at the Bondi Beach memorial for the Sydney Jewish Museum.

She said Goldstone Gallery could still be saved if there were funds to support it, but that she is also open to the gallery moving to another space.

She views the gallery as serving a different purpose to the Jewish Museum of Australia and the Melbourne Holocaust Museum, as Goldstone Gallery was focused on emerging artists and art available for sale.

“It’s a lab of experimentation,” she said.

Sanadze is proud of what Goldstone Gallery has achieved, feeling its exhibitions were amongst the best nationally, and looks forward to the “Goldstone community” developing into its next evolution.