An exhibition at a Kent gallery has been slammed as antisemitic and reported to the police.
Matthew Collings’ ‘Drawings Against Genocide’ is currently on show at the Joseph Wales Studios in Margate.
In Margate. My cheeks are red. I am shaking. I popped into an exhibition that turned out to be the insane fever dream of an artist called Matthew Collins: ‘Drawings Against Genocide.’ The exhibition is described as ‘drawings… raising consciousness about hell…. Israel is the… pic.twitter.com/CO8Ee8eYLG
— Zoe Strimpel (@realzoestrimpel) March 21, 2026
Sunday Telegraph columnist Zoe Strimpel visited the exhibition yesterday and was left “shaking” after witnessing the pieces on show.
They include a piece of an Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) soldier, with a Star of David in between their legs, standing over what appears to be a pool of blood and a human skull.
Another features an image of Donald Trump, with the words “thinking Epstein”, a Swastika, and a Star of David.
The caption below reads: “Trump thinks: hmm Epstein … Better invade Iran and murder Muslims.”
A separate piece, made up mostly of text, says there is no evidence for claims of sexual violence by the Dinah Project, which included first-hand testimony from a survivor of an attempted rape.
The exhibition in Margate is by artist Matthew Collings. Picture: Zoe Strimpel/X
Taking to X after her visit, Ms Strimpel said: “I popped into an exhibition that turned out to be the insane fever dream of an artist called Matthew Collings: ‘Drawings Against Genocide.’
“Shocked by the use of Nazi imagery – the room is full of the Star of David pasted around figures meant to be Israelis and the Jewish ‘lobby’ spewing blood, to say nothing of blonde yummy mummies wearing ‘globalise the intifada’ shirts – I spoke to the artist to share my reaction as a Jewish person.
“He was instantly aggressive. As soon as I started to say I was shocked and threatened by what I was seeing because it was Nazi imagery, the artist started yelling at me that I didn’t mean anything I was saying.
“Anytime I tried to speak (calmly), he said: ‘You don’t mean any of what you said, you’re just repeating ‘hasbarah talking points’ because ‘you’re defending a genocide’. On and on he yelled, in my face.”
She says others in the gallery also ”geered” as she left.
Matthew Collings’ exhibition in Margate has been labelled anti-semitic. Picture: Zoe Strimpel/X
Others have jumped to criticise the artist, Mr Collings, a former art critic for the Evening Standard.
Dover MP Mike Tapp commented: “Not only is this antisemitic and completely unacceptable, the ‘art’ is utter garbage.”
Israel’s charge d’affaires to the United Kingdom, Daniela Grudsky, wrote: “This isn’t art. It isn’t free speech. It’s antisemitism – crude, aggressive, and completely indefensible. It should be treated with the full seriousness of the law.”
Many have tagged Kent Police in their replies.
However, some have jumped to the artist’s defence. X user Bellingham Lane commented: “Perhaps next time you can visit a local painting group’s exhibit featuring still lifes of flowers.
There has been a backlash to the artwork at Joseph Wales Studio in Margate. Picture: Zoe Strimpel/X
“This IS fine art. I don’t need to read his mission statement, which no doubt you did, to understand what he is trying to portray.
“He’s brilliant. It’s not antisemitic, it’s humanism.”
Mr Collings description of the exhibition says it aims to raise “consciousness about hell”.
“Hell is still only hints for many of us, but soon we’ll all know the full impact,” he added.
“Fascism is this fireball coming up the road. We can’t go on pretending hell isn’t happening. “Or the reasons for it aren’t the real ones. Israel is the pure encapsulation of it. Zionism is this terror state’s ruling ideology.
Zoe Strimpel says she was left shaking after visiting the exhibition in Margate. Picture: Zoe Strimpel/X
“Israel doesn’t stand for ‘homeland.’ It stands for violently appropriating someone else’s home.
“Control, terror, violence and lies are the forces we must see clearly and struggle against. I try do it by drawing.”
In a post shared on his Instagram and Facebook, he appears to reference the interaction with Ms Strimpel, talking about a “well-dressed, middle-class, educated person” visiting the gallery.
He said: “After there’d been a very beautiful and moving long public discussion about the issues of the show, and shouted at me that as a Jew she felt she was in an unsafe place and she was going to complain to the police.
“Someone else in the room said ‘I’m a Jew, and I don’t feel unsafe’.
The exhibition is at Joseph Wales Studios in Margate. Picture: Google
“I would say my feeling personally is that this Zionist nonsense of making all these false allegations so antisemitism can be conflated with anti-Zionism, has run out of effectiveness.”
The exhibition was curated by the Thanet group Art for a Free Palestine, which has denied claims that the art is prejudiced against Jewish people.
A spokesperson said: “It is a powerful, thought-provoking and poignant exhibition of A4-sized drawings, drawings which lay bare the horrors that the Israeli State is perpetrating against the Palestinian people in Gaza.
“Collings’ work is both a reflection on and a resistance to the unfolding genocide that we have witnessed live-streamed on our phones over the last two and a half years.
“The Zionist Israeli lobby seeks to discredit voices like Matthew Collings’ as antisemitic. They have conflated zionism with antisemitism, which means that if you say anything against Zionism, you are also saying something against Judaism.
“This is a blatant attempt to muzzle any criticism of Israel or zionism, by saying it is ‘anti-semitic’.
“While Matthew Collings’ drawings do critique the Israeli government, the IDF, and Zionism with such sharp brilliance. They are not anti-semitic in any way.”
A police spokeswoman said: “We received a report of a concern raised regarding the subject matter of an exhibition in Dane Hill, Margate, at 4.20pm on Saturday, March 21.
“Enquiries into the report are ongoing.”
Mr Collings and Joseph Wales Studios have been contacted for comment.