Guest Artist: Avraham Vofsi

Avraham Vofsi (b. 1989, Australia) is a Jewish artist based in Israel, working in classical oil painting. Born in Melbourne to American parents, he grew up as a Jew in a non-Jewish city. Inspired by the connection Indigenous Australians had to land and history, he began painting stories of marginalised communities before turning inward: toward his own identity and the Jewish story.

Today, Vofsi’s work blends narrative figuration with observational realism to explore Jewish life, history, and belonging. He’s part of the emerging Israeli realism movement, developing a new visual language for modern Jewish expression. His work reclaims the canon of classical European painting by centering the Jewish subjects it once left out.

His paintings have been exhibited in institutions including the Art Gallery of NSW, the National Portrait Gallery of Australia, the Jewish Museum of Florida, and the State Library of Victoria. In 2022, he was a finalist for the Archibald Prize.

Explanation of the work:

My portrait series of the Djab Wurrung Heritage Embassy in Australia was created with leaders who stood on Country to protect sacred Grandmother and Grandfather trees from a government highway project. Each painting became a double portrait, pairing the individual with the tree they defended, alongside native animals and cultural objects. These works taught me how heritage lives in the relationship between people and place, and inspired me to reflect on my own Jewish story.

That path eventually led me to Israel. I made Aliyah just before the war, and my recent portrait of Nova Perez on Masada brings this journey full circle. Nova embodies layered Jewish identity, and her portrait reflects the connection between her heritage and the story of Masada. Like the Embassy works, it links person, culture, and land but in Israel’s landscape, it speaks to survival, belonging, and resilience in a Jewish context.