Sharing light takes shape

NCJWA’s Council House was at capacity last night as NCJWA NSW facilitated a clay making workshop for Sharing Light, a public art installation that will see 5000 handmade vessels, each housing a solar-powered light, laid out in a grid across Archer Park in Bondi this December.

As the sun sets, the vessels will illuminate, marking one year since the Bondi Beach attack.

Nathalie Samia, president of NCJWA NSW told The AJN that people were so keen to be involved, extra tables were brought in at the last minute to accommodate everyone. 

Sharing Light is led by artists Marisa Purcell and Rena Shein with academic and creative practitioner Vicki Leibowitz, and is supported by Chabad of Bondi’s Rabbi Yehoram Ulman. It has received seed funding from Waverley Council’s Local Creative Collaborations program and from Victims of Terrorism Australia, with the artists seeking further support through tax-deductible donations via the Australian Cultural Fund.

Samia opened the evening with a moment of remembrance for the 15 people who were murdered at Bondi, before turning to the room itself, which included Jews and non-Jews, women from the leadership of major Jewish organisations, children and even some men. Samia shared that for some upcoming workshops, attendees include three generations of the same family.