Visual Arts

Art that brings us together

Shomer(1)

Recollections

Shomer(3)

An Immersive Exhibition by Dor Zlekha Levy

Shalom Collective presents Recollections, an evocative audiovisual exhibition by contemporary Israeli artist Dor Zlekha Levy. Coinciding with Vivid Sydney (23 May – 14 June 2025), Recollections offers an unmissable opportunity to experience contemporary Jewish art in the heart of one of the world’s most dynamic arts and ideas festivals.

Step inside a world where forgotten traditions of the Sephardi and Mizrachi communities come to life through sound, video, and immersive installations.

Zlekha Levy’s work bridges past and present, music and language, collective memory and personal experience. Across three distinct installations – Maqamat, Shomer, and Omek-Umk – visitors will be enveloped in a sensory exploration of heritage, identity, and the echoes of voices often excluded from Jewish and Israeli cultural narratives.

Be Part of the Experience

Whether you’re an art lover, a music enthusiast, or simply curious about the lesser shared stories of Jewish history, this exhibition is for you.

Entry to Recollections is free, with limited access time allocated sessions.

Exhibition Dates: 20 May – 15 June 2025
Location: forumprojects Gallery, Walsh Bay Arts Precinct

Click on register below to reserve your time slot!

School Excursions

We invite school groups to experience this immersive visual art installation that brings to life the stories, traditions, culture, and music of Mizrachi and Sephardi communities. Through contemporary audiovisual storytelling, students will gain a deeper understanding of these often-overlooked narratives and their place within Jewish history and identity.

This excursion is particularly relevant for middle and high school students studying Visual Arts & Photography, Modern & Classical Hebrew, Jewish Studies, Modern History, Studies of Religion and Music 1 & 2.

Click on bookings below for more details.

About Dor Zlekha Levy

This is the first major Sydney exhibition of Israeli multimedia artist Dor Zlekha Levy, whose immersive audiovisual installations reimagine the forgotten histories of and Mizrachi Jews. His audiovisual works amplify voices often left out of dominant cultural narratives, creating spaces where history is not only heard but truly listened to.  

Working at the intersection of tradition and technology, Zlekha Levy’s practice draws on archival recordings, oral testimonies, and architectural fragments, which he deconstructs and reassembles to explore themes of memory, identity, and displacement. His collaborations with musicians play a vital role in shaping the compositions of the works, transforming sound into an integral element of his storytelling.  

This exhibition brings together three of his most significant works: Maqamat (2017, in collaboration with Aviad Zinemanas), an audiovisual exploration of Jewish Iraqi musical traditions; Shomer (2019), a meditation on preservation and loss set within Beirut’s historic Magen Avraham Synagogue; and Omek-Umk (2021), a reflection on language and hybridity in Jewish and Middle Eastern culture.  

Zlekha Levy’s works have been exhibited internationally in institutions such as the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Kunsthalle Stavanger, Norway and Paper Gallery, Pristina, and have been featured in major festivals and art fairs including Ars Electronica, Linz and Artissima, Turin. His large-scale installations have been commissioned for heritage sites such as The Beit Guvrin Bell Caves and The Arches Pool, where his work brings history into dialogue with the present. 

For more about Dor and to view his large body of works visit: dorlevy.com 

With thanks to

The Yarranabbe Foundation

and

Explore more Mizrachi and Sephardi Voices

Ve’hi She’amda Project

In 2024 the ‘V’hi she’amda Project’ celebrated our communal resilience across the generations. In every generation there are those who have tried to destroy us, but we have always found salvation. We are still here. These are the haunting words of v’hi she’amda, which have suddenly found new meaning. 

This project included curated stories from across our vibrant community – tales of migration, settlement, families, and children. A source to be shared at each family’s Passover table, these narratives serve as a living testament to the enduring spirit of the Jewish people, the People of the Book. The soul of this project lay in the inclusion of one card designated for YOUR family, so that you too could inscribe your own history, your unique journey, to be shared at Passover and for generations to come. 

We were redeemed from Egypt, and our celebration continues – for we are still here, thriving against all odds. 

We recommend these amazing Mizrachi and Sephardi stories and previous events

Something Sephardi and Something Sweet

During Covid we savoured the flavours of the world with an hour of cooking Jewish recipes from different corners of the globe. Enjoy the culinary tour of the Jewish world with American/Italian/Jewish cook Marcia Friedman as she baked a delicious savoury Sephardi recipe and Monday Morning Cooking Club’s Lisa Goldberg as she showed us how to bake something sweet for these lockdown days.  

Author Esther Amini in conversation with Karmel Melamed 

Interview with author of Concealed: Memoir of a Jewish-Iranian Daughter Caught Between the Chador and America 

Born to Persian Jews who fled Iran, Esther Amini grew up in freewheeling 1960s New York. Concealed: Memoir of a Jewish-Iranian Daughter Caught Between the Chador and America, uncovers her parents’ early years as crypto-Jews in Iran’s holiest Muslim city, and their arduous journey to America, where they faced the threat of freedom. 

The Atlas of Jewish Food – Claudia Roden 

Esteemed cookbook writer and anthropologist Claudia Roden in conversation with Australian food writer and broadcaster Alice Zaslavsky.  Claudia Roden grew up in Cairo and studied in both Paris and London. She has published multiple bestsellers including the international award-winning The Book of Jewish Food, and she revolutionised Western attitudes to Middle Eastern cuisines in 1968 with her bestselling cookbook, A Book of Middle Eastern Food. Aside from her writing career Roden has presented cookery shows on the BBC and she is co-chair of the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery. 

  • Exhibitions and Installations

    Shalom Collective showcases the vibrant spectrum of Jewish visual art, offering a platform for artists to express and explore Jewish identity, heritage, and contemporary themes. Through these curated spaces, Shalom Collective celebrates the role of art in storytelling, culture, and connection.

  • Workshops and Events

    Shalom Collective hosts workshops and events that nurture artistic growth and connection. These programs invite artists and art enthusiasts to engage with various visual art forms, build skills, and connect. Our events range from hands-on workshops to artist talks, providing enriching experiences for emerging and established artists across Sydney.

  • Shalom Collective Australian Jewish Artist Micro Grants

    We support local artists through our Shalom Collective Australian Jewish Artist Micro Grants, providing up to $400 per person per year to help bring creative projects to life. Our funding supports essential materials, resources, and elements that enable artists to realise their vision and enrich our community.

    Awards & Grants
  • Shalom Collective Artist Meetups

    In collaboration with The Jewish Independent, we invite professional Jewish artists, musicians, performers, writers, directors, producers, and designers to network, collaborate, and inspire each other.

Succah By The Sea Exhibition 2019

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