Bondi Pavilion Art Gallery April 25 – June 28, 2026
Just steps away from the site of the December 14 Chanukah massacre a new exhibition in the historic Bondi Pavilion seeks to reclaim the iconic beach both for the Jewish community - which has deep roots in the area stretching back to the early 19th century - and more broadly for Australian society. Following a public call out for submissions by Shalom Collective, a Sydney-based nonprofit, 29 works of art across diverse media were selected with a deliberate mix of professional and community artists. The overall effect may be of curatorial confusion but the emphasis on solidarity and a shared love of the rugged beauty of Bondi across generations and communities is ultimately what shines through.
For days following the terrorist attack thousands of Australians poured onto Bondi Beach with flowers for the victims. They also brought painted stones inscribed with messages, teddy bears, toys, letters and cards, but most of all flowers. It was both an outpouring of national grief and a public show of support for the Jewish community, one that has largely been absent since October 7. By the time everything was cleared away ten days later ahead of the Christmas holiday, there were 3 tonnes of flowers. These were collected by Melbourne-based artist Nina Sanadze, in conjunction with the Sydney Jewish Museum, for a future memorial to honour the victims. The collection process itself involved dozens of volunteers as the flowers were already in various states of decay and needed to be handled with the utmost delicacy. They were eventually transported to a warehouse across town wrapped in industrial black plastic eerily reminiscent of body bags. Over the following weeks dozens more volunteers hung hundreds of bunches of flowers upside down on loaned cyclone fences for drying, while Sanadze worked with volunteer botanists who assisted with sorting and archiving the flowers. The project has already generated significant international press coverage. Over several weeks, in humid summertime Sydney, the flowers slowly dried out, each in its own time evolving into something new. It was during these intermediate stages of drying that the artist and academic Ella Dreyfus came to photograph the flowers in the warehouse, eventually creating Nature Morte – Zikaron (Still Life – Remembrance). The taut elegance of Dreyfus’ 12 chiaroscuro photographs beautifully captures the melancholy of this moment of public solidarity with the Jewish community.
On December 19, at sunrise on Bondi Beach, a communal paddle out to honour the 15 victims took place. Roughly 2,000 people showed up, far more than initially expected. Among the surfers were pregnant women, children and first responders. The ceremony also included chalk drawings on the promenade of a menorah and bees in honour of 10-year-old Matilda “Bee” Britvan, the youngest victim of the Chanukah massacre. Hailing from early 20th century Hawaii, the paddle out is a powerful communal ritual featuring a large circle of surfers in the water observing a moment of collective silence. Photographer Paul Blackmore captures the solemnity of the moment before the paddle out in his exquisite photograph Light Over Darkness. Paddle Out. In the image hundreds of people gather on the sand, their faces uniformly sombre, punctuated by surfboards, and drenched in the fiery early morning summer light.
Among the many heroes of the Chanukah tragedy who rushed forward to save lives is Texas-based Rabbi Leibel Lazaroff. On December 14 while assisting his mentor Rabbi Eli Schlanger, who was murdered, Lazaroff ran to the aid of critically wounded NSW Police Officer Scott Dyson, using his own shirt to staunch the bleeding. While doing so Lazaroff was shot twice. He then underwent multiple surgeries, spending weeks in intensive care. Lazaroff is as diminutive in stature as he is a giant in courage. Visual storyteller D-Mo has affectionately captured this duality in The Height of a Small Table, her photographic portrait of Lazaroff, taken shortly after he was released from hospital. The setting is minimalist, just a small round table, set against a white wall. The restrained composition and traditional elegance of the rabbi’s attire are juxtaposed by the figure of Lazaroff standing on the table, one hand in his pocket, staring directly into the camera, projecting both vulnerability and defiance. The Rabbi’s black kippah melts into his dark hair, his tzitzit curl out behind his jacket and on the outsize Texan belt buckle he wears is a menorah.
There is an inherent tension at the heart of trying to hold light. You can cup a flame, but if you try to hold it, it will burn you and the light will be extinguished. This feels like an apt metaphor for the precariousness of this moment, as Australia’s national reckoning with murderous antisemitism and Islamist terror begins with hearings for the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion. It remains to be seen if the country will summon the requisite honesty and tough-mindedness needed to reverse the disastrous course of unchecked antisemitism that has led us to this moment. “Holding Light” is both a stated intention and an attempt to chart a course forward by focusing on solidarity and shared love for Australia’s most famous beach. At the very least, this is a positive step in the right direction.
A shorter version of this article was first published by Nicole Waldner in Jewish Renaissance (London) on May 28, 2026.