The artist representing Israel at the Venice Biennale has called for a ceasefire in the fighting with Hamas and said her exhibit will remain closed until the hostages are released, AFP reports.

Ruth Patir’s video installation “(M)otherland” was due to open on Saturday at Israel’s national pavilion at the international art show, but the day before a media preview, she said it would remain closed for now.

“I feel that the time for art is lost and I need to believe it will return,” she wrote in a post on Instagram.

She said she and curators Mira Lapidot and Tamar Margalit “have become the news, not the art”.

“And so if I am given such a remarkable stage, I want to make it count,” she wrote.

“I have therefore decided that the pavilion will only open when the release of hostages and ceasefire agreement happens.”