2024 Muswellbrook Art Prize

Luminaria IV

Avital Sheffer

Luminaria IV, 2024 earthenware clay 54 x 26 x 15 cm

This vessel is informed by an investigation of my Mediterranean and Jewish heritage, where the complexities of settlement and exile, conflict and conquest, contested lands and religious wars have for millennia played out at the edge of the abyss.

In a recent visit to Spain and Portugal tracing my family roots I’ve studied artistic traditions at the crossroad of Islamic and Jewish wisdom and aesthetics.

Luminaria refers to the knowledge that comes from cultural convergence and cross fertilisation.