Avraham Vofsi John Safran as David and Goliath

Avraham Vofsi became captivated with writer, radio presenter and documentary maker John Safran after watching Safran’s 2002 SBS-TV series Music jamboree. ‘Since then, anything he’s made, I’ve seen, heard or read,’ says Vofsi. So when the Melbourne-raised artist was looking for a Jewish subject for his first Archibald entry, Safran was a clear choice.

Vofsi decided he wanted to focus on a well-known story from the Hebrew scriptures in which the giant Goliath is killed by a young David in battle, and present it in a way that reclaimed the narrative for him and Safran ‘as Jewish people’. ‘I wanted the painting to be historically accurate, bringing our ancestors to life in a way I hadn’t seen before.

‘It was John who thought it would be funny if he was both David and Goliath, saying, “I often think of myself as a David going up against these Goliaths, but in the end I just end up cutting off my own head.” That sums up John brilliantly: his righteous battles with hilarious, self-effacing outcomes.’