Avital Sheffer - Convivencia: The Archaeology of Identity

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Fri 24 Apr 2026 - Sun 05 Jul 2026

Avital Sheffer is a ceramic artist based on the North-Coast of New South Wales. Drawing on her Middle Eastern and Jewish ancestry, Sheffer’s ceramics traverse the fertile territories of history, mythology, archaeology and language. In her practice, she creates generous ceramic vessel forms that are strong in presence and refined in detail. From her native country of Israel, Sheffer brings a deep engagement with multi-faceted Middle Eastern cultures, history and design – complexities and dilemmas she explores in her work.

In her current solo exhibition, Sheffer explores the theme of Convivencia, a Spanish word meaning living together or coexistence. The term is used to describe a period in Spanish history that refers to a time when Muslims, Christians and Jews lived together in the Iberian Peninsula (Al-Andalus) under Islamic rule:

Beneath our feet the earth was embedded with shards of clay. Their presence and the stories they seemed to have whispered ignited my imagination since childhood. Settlement and exile, conflict and conquest, contested lands and religious wars between diverse cultures have shaped the history of the Middle East and the Mediterranean Basin for millennia. Yet material objects and written records also speak of Convivencia – the ability to coexist and evolve in this fertile cultural crossroads where ideas, languages and traditions converse. At the heart of this body of work is the unfolding inquiry of my cultural and historical roots and the intimate dilemmas of identity, language, body and beauty. This group of gestural ceramic vessels made with coils, draped with dry glazes, prints and a hint of gold are my reimagining of the enigmas and splendours of the Convivencia.

Located at JamFactory, 19 Morphett Street, Adelaide, this exhibition will be held on Friday, 24 April to Sunday, 5 July 2026. For sales enquiries, please contact Lucy Potter on email address [email protected]. Please go to this link to shop the exhibition.


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