Lecture: The Soul of an Object by Ghiora Aharoni

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

Lecture by Ghiora Aharoni

Register here.

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.

Public Lecture: Thursday April 3rd at Campbell Hall (School of Architecture) Room 153 at 5:30 pm. Reception to follow at The Fralin from 6:30–7:30 pm.

Sponsored by UVA Provost's Office and The College of Arts & Sciences Engagements Program.

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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.