Sunday April 6 2025
10 AM – 5 PM
41 Derby St, Collingwood
Democracy sausage sizzle all day
Live guitar performance by Mestaneh Nasarian from 3 PM
Free entry | No bookings required | Art for sale
Join us, support, share—bring your friends!
Renowned artist Nina Sanadze presents Election Day: No Hate, a powerful one-day exhibition featuring photographs, sculptures, and a video work created at the fire-ravaged Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne, incorporating cardboard voting booths and salvaged remnants from the destruction.
At the heart of the exhibition is a meticulously crafted Torah scroll—not on parchment, but composed of newspaper articles documenting the rise of antisemitism in Australia since October 7, 2023. This work stands as both a record and a warning, confronting the disturbing echoes of history.
Sanadze’s ongoing Election series has previously explored democracy and crisis through sculpture and installation—addressing bushfires (2020) and floods (2024) using cardboard election booths as haunting sculptural forms.
Now, with the 2025 Federal election approaching, her focus shifts to the urgent reality of rising antisemitism in Australia—a crisis she has personally endured.
The firebombing of the Adass Israel Synagogue has become a chilling symbol of this growing hatred. In response, Sanadze bears witness through her art, refusing silence. This marks her first solo exhibition since her 2024 survey show at the National Gallery of Victoria—a moment overshadowed by her own cancellation within the art world. Yet, undeterred, she reclaims space within Melbourne’s contemporary art scene, standing firm against attempts to erase her voice.
Visually stunning, poetic, and deeply resonant, Election Day: No Hate transforms trauma into testimony, reflection, and ultimately, hope. Elections signify change, renewal, and the chance to do things differently. Through this exhibition, Sanadze challenges us to face the present moment and imagine a future beyond hate.
In the spirit of resilience and communal solidarity, the event also embraces humour and connection, featuring a democracy sausage sizzle, ceramic and scorched sausage sculptures, and a live guitar improvisation by Mestaneh Nasarian at 3 PM.
Sanadze worked closely with Adass Synagogue management, who offered their full support. Remnants from the fire will feature in this exhibition and in a forthcoming large-scale outdoor installation for the Jewish Museum of Australia’s Chutzpah exhibition, opening May 2025.