Shireen Taweel (b. 1990, Bankstown, Australia) received a BFA from Tasmanian College of the Arts; an MFA from the National Art School, Sydney; and is a PhD Candidate at University of New South Wales, Sydney. Taweel has enjoyed solo exhibitions at Penrith Regional Gallery, Emu Plains; Artspace, Sydney; and Dunedin Public Art Gallery, New Zealand. She participated in the TarraWarra Biennale 2025, Healesville, Australia and recent group exhibitions at SAVVY Contemporary, Berlin; Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane; Griffith University Art Museum, Brisbane; and the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney. Her work is held in the collections of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney and the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra. She is the recipient of numerous awards and residencies including Sydney Observatory, Powerhouse Museum; Vermont Studio Center; Copper Tinsmith and Narce Association of Gaziantep, Turkey; the 68th Blake Prize and David Harold Tribe Sculpture Award. Taweel is represented by STATION Gallery, Australia.
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Shireen Taweel: Between Science and the Sublime
Shireen Taweel: Between Science and the Sublime
October 30-December 20, 2025
Opening Reception: Thursday, October 30, 5-7PM
Jessica Silverman is pleased to present “Shireen Taweel: Between Science and the Sublime,” on view in the second-floor gallery from October 30 through December 20, 2025. The exhibition features six new engraved copper sculptures and aquatint works on paper that envision migration beyond Earth. In her first show at the gallery and in the United States, Taweel draws on traditional forms of celestial navigation, bridging past and future, the earthly and the cosmic, the scientific and the spiritual. Through delicate sculptures of astronomical instruments and fantastical landscapes, the artist molds a world in which a plurality of beings flourish and actively participate in charting their own paths.
Based in Sydney, Taweel is a virtuoso coppersmith whose practice connects her Australian-Lebanese heritage with the centuries-long Islamic study of astronomy. Working primarily with copper—one of the few naturally occurring metals on Earth—she underscores its scientific and cultural significance. Revered for its role in discovery, architecture, and the built environment across civilizations, copper becomes for Taweel a medium of connectivity and continuity. Through it, she speculates on the cosmos as a sacred space for gathering.
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INSTALLATION VIEW
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SELECTED WORKS
Shireen Taweel
Unknown Arcs of a Sphere III, 2025
Engraved and pierced copper and silver solder
8 5/8 x 8 5/8 x 8 5/8 inches / 22 x 22 x 22 cm
Unknown Arcs of a Sphere III, 2025
Engraved and pierced copper and silver solder
8 5/8 x 8 5/8 x 8 5/8 inches / 22 x 22 x 22 cm
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Shireen Taweel
Unknown Arcs of a Sphere II, 2025
Engraved and pierced copper and silver solder
13 3/8 x 5 7/8 x 5 7/8 inches / 34 x 15 x 15 cm
Unknown Arcs of a Sphere II, 2025
Engraved and pierced copper and silver solder
13 3/8 x 5 7/8 x 5 7/8 inches / 34 x 15 x 15 cm
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Shireen Taweel
Unknown Arcs of a Sphere VI, 2025
Engraved and pierced copper and silver solder
7 7/8 x 13 3/8 x 8 5/8 inches / 20 x 34 x 22 cm
Unknown Arcs of a Sphere VI, 2025
Engraved and pierced copper and silver solder
7 7/8 x 13 3/8 x 8 5/8 inches / 20 x 34 x 22 cm
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Shireen Taweel
Unknown Arcs of a Sphere III, 2025
Engraved and pierced copper and silver solder
8 5/8 x 8 5/8 x 8 5/8 inches / 22 x 22 x 22 cm
Unknown Arcs of a Sphere III, 2025
Engraved and pierced copper and silver solder
8 5/8 x 8 5/8 x 8 5/8 inches / 22 x 22 x 22 cm
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Shireen Taweel
Unknown Arcs of a Sphere II, 2025
Engraved and pierced copper and silver solder
13 3/8 x 5 7/8 x 5 7/8 inches / 34 x 15 x 15 cm
Unknown Arcs of a Sphere II, 2025
Engraved and pierced copper and silver solder
13 3/8 x 5 7/8 x 5 7/8 inches / 34 x 15 x 15 cm
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Shireen Taweel
Unknown Arcs of a Sphere VI, 2025
Engraved and pierced copper and silver solder
7 7/8 x 13 3/8 x 8 5/8 inches / 20 x 34 x 22 cm
Unknown Arcs of a Sphere VI, 2025
Engraved and pierced copper and silver solder
7 7/8 x 13 3/8 x 8 5/8 inches / 20 x 34 x 22 cm
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Light punctures pierced geometries in Taweel’s hand-built sculptures, which take the shape of speculative instruments for wayfinding. In Unknown Arcs of a Sphere II (2025) a crescent form balances atop a cone, decorated with intricate engravings and latticed patterns. Six unique designs take inspiration from historic astronomical tools, such as the qibla compass, astrolabe and sextant, and their scale directly corresponds to how people have used such devices to navigate land and sea. In this series of copper sculptures, titled Unknown Arcs of a Sphere I–VI (all 2025) after mathematician Al-Jayyani’s foundational 11th-century treatise on spherical trigonometry, Taweel unites technology, craft, and spirituality into instruments for imagining existence amongst the stars.
Shireen Taweel
Unknown Arcs of a Sphere IV, 2025
Engraved and pierced copper and silver solder
7 7/8 x 13 3/8 x 7 7/8 inches / 20 x 34 x 20 cm
Unknown Arcs of a Sphere IV, 2025
Engraved and pierced copper and silver solder
7 7/8 x 13 3/8 x 7 7/8 inches / 20 x 34 x 20 cm
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Shireen Taweel
Unknown Arcs of a Sphere I, 2025
Engraved and pierced copper and silver solder
8 5/8 x 9 x 9 inches / 22 x 23 x 23 cm
Unknown Arcs of a Sphere I, 2025
Engraved and pierced copper and silver solder
8 5/8 x 9 x 9 inches / 22 x 23 x 23 cm
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Shireen Taweel
Unknown Arcs of a Sphere V, 2025
Engraved and pierced copper and silver solder
9 1/2 x 9 1/2 x 2 3/8 inches / 24 x 24 x 6 cm
Unknown Arcs of a Sphere V, 2025
Engraved and pierced copper and silver solder
9 1/2 x 9 1/2 x 2 3/8 inches / 24 x 24 x 6 cm
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Shireen Taweel
Unknown Arcs of a Sphere IV, 2025
Engraved and pierced copper and silver solder
7 7/8 x 13 3/8 x 7 7/8 inches / 20 x 34 x 20 cm
Unknown Arcs of a Sphere IV, 2025
Engraved and pierced copper and silver solder
7 7/8 x 13 3/8 x 7 7/8 inches / 20 x 34 x 20 cm
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Shireen Taweel
Unknown Arcs of a Sphere I, 2025
Engraved and pierced copper and silver solder
8 5/8 x 9 x 9 inches / 22 x 23 x 23 cm
Unknown Arcs of a Sphere I, 2025
Engraved and pierced copper and silver solder
8 5/8 x 9 x 9 inches / 22 x 23 x 23 cm
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Shireen Taweel
Unknown Arcs of a Sphere V, 2025
Engraved and pierced copper and silver solder
9 1/2 x 9 1/2 x 2 3/8 inches / 24 x 24 x 6 cm
Unknown Arcs of a Sphere V, 2025
Engraved and pierced copper and silver solder
9 1/2 x 9 1/2 x 2 3/8 inches / 24 x 24 x 6 cm
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Shireen Taweel
Astro Architecture, 2025
Engraved copper plate, aquatint prints
Frame (each): 45 x 34 x 1 3/4 inches / 114.3 x 86.4 x 4.4 cm
Astro Architecture, 2025
Engraved copper plate, aquatint prints
Frame (each): 45 x 34 x 1 3/4 inches / 114.3 x 86.4 x 4.4 cm
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A purple-hued triptych titled Astro Architecture (2025) zooms out to reveal angular, sextant- shaped monuments scattered across a rocky terrain. The careful linework of Taweel’s copper engraving extends across both series, linking the languages of printmaking and sculpture.
Shireen Taweel
The Sun's Down V, 2025
Engraved copper plate, aquatint print on etching paper
24 x 34 x 1 1/2 inches / 61 x 86.4 x 3.8 cm
The Sun's Down V, 2025
Engraved copper plate, aquatint print on etching paper
24 x 34 x 1 1/2 inches / 61 x 86.4 x 3.8 cm
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Shireen Taweel
The Sun's Down VI, 2025
Engraved copper plate, aquatint print on etching paper
24 x 34 x 1 1/2 inches / 61 x 86.4 x 3.8 cm
The Sun's Down VI, 2025
Engraved copper plate, aquatint print on etching paper
24 x 34 x 1 1/2 inches / 61 x 86.4 x 3.8 cm
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Shireen Taweel
The Sun's Down III, 2025
Engraved copper plate, aquatint print on etching paper
24 x 34 x 1 1/2 inches / 61 x 86.4 x 3.8 cm
The Sun's Down III, 2025
Engraved copper plate, aquatint print on etching paper
24 x 34 x 1 1/2 inches / 61 x 86.4 x 3.8 cm
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Shireen Taweel
The Sun's Down V, 2025
Engraved copper plate, aquatint print on etching paper
24 x 34 x 1 1/2 inches / 61 x 86.4 x 3.8 cm
The Sun's Down V, 2025
Engraved copper plate, aquatint print on etching paper
24 x 34 x 1 1/2 inches / 61 x 86.4 x 3.8 cm
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Shireen Taweel
The Sun's Down VI, 2025
Engraved copper plate, aquatint print on etching paper
24 x 34 x 1 1/2 inches / 61 x 86.4 x 3.8 cm
The Sun's Down VI, 2025
Engraved copper plate, aquatint print on etching paper
24 x 34 x 1 1/2 inches / 61 x 86.4 x 3.8 cm
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Shireen Taweel
The Sun's Down III, 2025
Engraved copper plate, aquatint print on etching paper
24 x 34 x 1 1/2 inches / 61 x 86.4 x 3.8 cm
The Sun's Down III, 2025
Engraved copper plate, aquatint print on etching paper
24 x 34 x 1 1/2 inches / 61 x 86.4 x 3.8 cm
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Also on view, a suite of six cinnabar-colored unique prints, titled The Sun’s Down I–VI (all 2025), evoke the atmospheric glow of distant worlds. Each work is created through the meticulous process of hand-engraving copper plates and printing them using aquatint, resulting in soft, dreamlike depictions of undulating mountain ranges beneath celestial spheres. In these imagined landscapes, colossal astronomical instruments rise like architectural symbols of pilgrimage or structures for orientation and gathering. Their elliptical compositions suggest telescopic gazing that hovers between the scientific and the sublime.
Shireen Taweel
The Sun's Down IV, 2025
Engraved copper plate, aquatint print on etching paper
24 x 34 x 1 1/2 inches / 61 x 86.4 x 3.8 cm
The Sun's Down IV, 2025
Engraved copper plate, aquatint print on etching paper
24 x 34 x 1 1/2 inches / 61 x 86.4 x 3.8 cm
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Shireen Taweel
The Sun's Down II, 2025
Engraved copper plate, aquatint print on etching paper
24 x 34 x 1 1/2 inches / 61 x 86.4 x 3.8 cm
The Sun's Down II, 2025
Engraved copper plate, aquatint print on etching paper
24 x 34 x 1 1/2 inches / 61 x 86.4 x 3.8 cm
INQUIRE
Shireen Taweel
The Sun's Down I, 2025
Engraved copper plate, aquatint print on etching paper
24 x 34 x 1 1/2 inches / 61 x 86.4 x 3.8 cm
The Sun's Down I, 2025
Engraved copper plate, aquatint print on etching paper
24 x 34 x 1 1/2 inches / 61 x 86.4 x 3.8 cm
INQUIRE
Shireen Taweel
The Sun's Down IV, 2025
Engraved copper plate, aquatint print on etching paper
24 x 34 x 1 1/2 inches / 61 x 86.4 x 3.8 cm
The Sun's Down IV, 2025
Engraved copper plate, aquatint print on etching paper
24 x 34 x 1 1/2 inches / 61 x 86.4 x 3.8 cm
INQUIRE
Shireen Taweel
The Sun's Down II, 2025
Engraved copper plate, aquatint print on etching paper
24 x 34 x 1 1/2 inches / 61 x 86.4 x 3.8 cm
The Sun's Down II, 2025
Engraved copper plate, aquatint print on etching paper
24 x 34 x 1 1/2 inches / 61 x 86.4 x 3.8 cm
INQUIRE
Shireen Taweel
The Sun's Down I, 2025
Engraved copper plate, aquatint print on etching paper
24 x 34 x 1 1/2 inches / 61 x 86.4 x 3.8 cm
The Sun's Down I, 2025
Engraved copper plate, aquatint print on etching paper
24 x 34 x 1 1/2 inches / 61 x 86.4 x 3.8 cm
INQUIRE
“Shireen Taweel: Between Science and the Sublime” reimagines the tools of science and navigation as instruments of orientation and possibility. Through a decolonial and feminist lens, Taweel expands the realms of science fiction and coppersmithing to chart new horizons of connection and understanding.
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