In her work, Melanie Bonajo examines the paradoxes inherent to ideas of comfort with a strong sense for community, equality, and body-politics. Through her videos, performances, photographs and installations, she studies subjects related to how technological advances and commoditybased pleasures increase feelings of alienation, removing a sense of belonging in an individual. Captivated by concepts of the divine, Bonajo explores the spiritual emptiness of her generation, examines peoples’ shifting relationship with nature and tries to understand existential questions by reflecting on our domestic situation, ideas around classification, concepts of home, gender and attitudes towards value.
Melanie Bonajo studied at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy and completed residencies at the Rijksakademie voor Beeldende Kunst in Amsterdam (2009-10) and at ISCP in New York (2014).
Her work Night Soil – Fake Paradise has been shown (Summer 2018) in international exhibitions throughout Europe; a.o. ‘Blind Faith’, curated by Julienne Lorz in Haus der Kunst, München, her Night Soil Trilogy is on view in Manifesta 12, Palermo, Riga International Biennial of Contemporary Art, curated by Katerina Gregos (film Progress vs Regress), Kunstsaele Berlin, curated by Ellen Blumenstein and ‘Anima Mundi’ in Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam, curated by Hans van der Ham (film Matrix Botanica).
Melanie Bonajo was nominated for the Amsterdamprijs voor de Kunst 2018 and the prestigious Nam June Paik Award 2018.
