The Soul of an Object...from the Sacred to the Utilitarian

5:30-6:30pm | Artist Talk at Campbell Hall

6:30-7:30pm | Reception at The Fralin Museum

With The Fralin Museum's exhibition Between Hand and Scroll: Torah Pointers from the Barr Collection as a point of departure, Ghiora Aharoni will explore the notion that objects—from antique to the contemporary and sacred icons to the everyday—possess a unique resonance, informed by their intended use as well as the existence they have witnessed. His lecture entitled, The Soul of an Object...from the Sacred to the Utilitarian, will trace the narratives of objects—ranging from antique headdress, to Torah finials, to vintage kerosene stoves—the identity they come to embody, and how those narratives can be harnessed, recontextualized, and elevated into socio-cultural avatars of both our individual and collective humanity. Illustrating these ideas with animations, still images, and short films of artwork and installations created in his artistic practice over the course of nearly two decades, the lecture will survey the metaphorical, allegorical, and inspiring narratives that exist within objects and their capacity to illuminate facets of our existence—and, ultimately, humanity's interconnectivity.

Ghiora Aharoni founded his multi-disciplinary studio for art and design in New York City in 2004. His work has been exhibited internationally in museums, institutions and galleries, and is in private collections and foundations in North America, Europe, the UAE, Israel and India. A graduate of Yale University, Aharoni’s work is in the collections of The Pompidou Center, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Vatican, The Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, The National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., The Morgan Library & Museum, The Huntington Library and Museum and The Anu Museum. He was selected as Princeton University's 2024 Belknap Visitor in the Humanities, and his work was shown earlier this year in Jodhpur, India in "Surface," an exhibition of international contemporary artists creating embellished textiles as signifiers of larger cultural narratives.

This program is made possible by the generous support of the UVA Provost's Office and The College of Arts & Sciences Engagements Program.

Between Hand and Scroll: Torah Pointes from the Barr Collection is supported by the Endowment of the Volunteer Board at The Fralin Museum of Art and sponsored by a grant from Virginia Humanities. Related academic programming has been sponsored by the Office of the Executive Vice President and the Provost at UVA. The Fralin Museum of Art’s K-12 educational programming is made possible thanks to the generosity of The Joseph and Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation. Thank you to our in-kind donors: WTJU 91.1 FM and Ivy Publications LLC’s Charlottesville Welcome Book.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Campbell Hall, Bayly Drive, Charlottesville, United States