NEW YORK: Pulitzer Prize-winning fiction writer Jhumpa Lahiri has declined to accept an award from the Noguchi Museum in Queens next month in disapproval of its new ban on political dress for its staff, which led to the firings of three employees who had worn kaffiyehs to signal solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
“Jhumpa Lahiri has chosen to withdraw her acceptance of the 2024 Isamu Noguchi Award in response to our updated dress code policy,” according to a statement emailed by the museum Wednesday.
“We respect her perspective and understand that this policy may or may not align with everyone’s views,” the statement said of Lahiri. “We remain committed to our core mission of advancing the understanding and appreciation of Isamu Noguchi’s art and legacy while upholding our values of inclusivity and openness.”
The museum, founded nearly 40 years ago by Noguchi, a Japanese American designer and sculptor, announced last month that during their working hours employees could not wear clothing or accessories that expressed “political messages, slogans or symbols.”
The policy, which does not apply to visitors, was instituted after several staff members had, over a period of months, often worn kaffiyehs — scarves associated with Palestinians — for what one fired employee termed “cultural reasons.” The museum defended the prohibition earlier this month, saying in a statement that “such expressions can unintentionally alienate segments of our diverse visitorship.” A significant majority of staffers signed a petition opposing the rule.
Lahiri and Lee Ufan, a Korean-born minimalist painter, sculptor and poet, were to have received the Isamu Noguchi Award at the museum’s fall benefit gala next month. Ufan could not be reached for comment Wednesday but is still scheduled to receive the award, the museum said.
Lahiri, who was born in London, won the 2000 Pulitzer for fiction for her debut, the story collection “Interpreter of Maladies,” and has since published several books of fiction and nonfiction in English and Italian. She is also the director of the creative writing program at Barnard College. Through her literary agent, Lahiri declined to comment.
Questions of how to express solidarity with Israelis or Palestinians have divided cultural institutions since Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing about 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages. Israel’s subsequent invasion of the Gaza Strip has killed more than 41,000 people, according to local health authorities.
Lahiri was one of thousands of scholars who signed a letter to university presidents in May expressing solidarity with campus protests against Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, calling it “unspeakable destruction.”
The museum’s budget is supported by royalties from furniture and lighting designs by Noguchi, who died in 1988. The staff petition alludes to his voluntary internment in an Arizona detention camp for Japanese Americans during World War II in an effort to improve conditions there.