21 December 2011
Earlier today, I wrote about the scandalous expulsion of Palestinian artist Larissa Sansour from the prestigious Lacoste Elysée Prize shortlist at the request of Lacoste, the high-end French fashion company that sponsors the contest.
Sansour, who was born in Jerusalem, said in a press release that Lacoste wanted her out because she was too “too pro-Palestinian.” The press release also stated:
Sansour’s name was included on all the literature relating to the prize and on the website as an official nominee. Her name has since been removed, just as her project has been withdrawn from an upcoming issue of contemporary art magazine ArtReview introducing the nominated artists.
Thanks to a Google-cached copy of the official Elysée Prize website from 12 December, we can indeed see that Sansour was included on the shortlist of eight nominees, and her country of origin was listed as “Palestine and Denmark.”
On the current version of the page, there are now only seven finalists and Sansour’s name and the word “Palestine” are nowhere to be found.
Sansour’s press release said the artist had been asked to approve a statement saying she had withdrawn from the contest voluntarily, but refused to do so.
