Ilana Razbash

Opening Night 

Sunday 19 April, 3–6 pm

Exhibition Dates

Sunday 19 April – Sunday 3 May

Exhibition Dates

Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays & Sundays: 10.30am–4pm

Special Event: Thursday, 26 April, 6-7pm, Reverence, Gratitude & Security Callout, Artist Talk by Ilana Razbash 

Special Event: Sunday, 29 April, 2-3pm, Synagogues of Melbourne: The Diversity of Our Jewish Community talk by Alex Kats

Temple Fragments by Melbourne artist-architect Ilana Razbash features 54 oil paintings of every synagogue in Melbourne arranged together as a moving, site-specific installation. These small works form a temple-like structure, uniting the city’s diverse Jewish sites. There is an urgency to present this exhibition now as a response to highlight the alarming rise in attacks on synagogues and Jewish sites worldwide, particularly in March this year, states Goldstone Gallery’s artistic director, Nina Sanadze.

Each 9x12" painting, created en plein air in 2025–2026, captures Melbourne synagogues as they merge with the surrounding streetscapes. Razbash’s energetic, impressionistic style evokes both the vibrancy and fragility of Jewish life in Melbourne spanning 180 years, preserving something precious in the face of growing threats. The series was conceived following the antisemitic arson attack on East Melbourne Hebrew Congregation in mid-2025.

Superimposed on each synagogue are semi-transparent impressions of the Beit Hamikdash, the Second Temple in Jerusalem, destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE. This central holy site remains a symbol of Jewish worship, loss, and enduring hope. Razbash explores the intersection of the real and the imagined, inviting viewers to find holiness in the everyday, pride in identity, and strength in truth.

As Rabbi Jonathan Sacks z”l explained, when the Second Temple was destroyed, Jewish people carried a “mikdash me’at” – a small spiritual fragment – into the diaspora. These fragments became synagogues: modest buildings containing an ark, a Torah scroll, an eternal light, a bimah, and windows. This same simple yet sacred framework underpins each synagogue in Razbash’s series.

Rabbi Menachem Wolf of Spiritgrow reflects: “Ilana’s paintings reminded me of the Talmudic passage where sages find comfort in Rabbi Akiva’s words: even in destruction, there is the seed of renewal. Her work offers a vision of a future where all shuls form one united temple.”

The modest size of paintings and the skeletal armature supporting them highlight the fragility of diaspora communities over 2,000 years, and the precarious safety of Jewish life today. Together, they form a hopeful prototype: a proud, united, and resilient vision of what could be.

Beyond documenting the past, the paintings also serve as a speculative blueprint for a Great Synagogue of Melbourne. Arranged around the prototype temple, they imagine a future where external threats and internal divisions are overcome. Presiding over the installation is The Young Kohen, a reminder of the priestly lineage carried through generations. A portrait of Razbash and her wife confronts the viewer, commenting on the extreme security now required simply to gather, pray, and celebrate. Through this work, Razbash asks audiences to consider Jewish Pride as an urgent civil rights issue, much as the lessons of the LGBTQ+ movement have done.

Michael Krape, president of Kew Synagogue, observes: “As the Talmud teaches, ‘Kol Yisrael arevim zeh la-zeh’ – all Israel is responsible for one another. This exhibition reminds us that, despite the repeated destruction of the First and Second Temples over 2,500 years ago, Jewish survival continues to inspire hope. Even in the face of enduring antisemitism, the persistence of our community shows the strength and resilience of the human spirit.”