Moorina Bonini explains Australian Melting Pot (2018) demonstrates an intentional action undertaken to understand the construct of the Australian identity. Through uncovering, re-learning and mixing together, the perfect identity stew is presented. Simmering idealistic fantasies rise to the top of the pot and the fire that burns under Nonna’s gnocchi pot in addition to cooking the stew, stains the outside surface with black. The same tone that remained after the intentional burning for the desire of regrowth and gain. 

The construction of the Other through the colonial practice has shaped our collective perceptions and fuelled stereotypes of Aboriginal people within Australia. Within this artwork, the artist has examined aspects of Australian identity, its function and presence. Continuing on from this, the purpose of decolonisation and the ideology’s relational position to space has also been explored.

Australian Melting Pot examines the complexity of living between multiple cultures in Australia. Cultural identity, how it functions within society and how it relates to individuals has informed the work. Research as a process has been a key element of this study, as action has been a large part of the making. The action is evident through the performing of Aboriginal cultural practices within a defined space.

Moorina Bonini is a proud descendant of the Yorta Yorta Dhulunyagen family clan of Ulupna and the Yorta Yorta and Wurundjeri-Woiwurrung Briggs/McCrae family. Moorina is an artist whose works are informed by her experiences as an Aboriginal and Italian woman. Her practice is driven by a self-reflexive methodology that enables the re-examination of lived experiences that have influenced the construction of her cultural identity. By unsettling the narrative placed upon Aboriginal people as a result of the colonisation of Aboriginal Australia, Bonini’s practice is based within Indigenous Knowledge systems and brings this to the fore. 

A Blak Dot Gallery digital exhibition touring with NETS Victoria
Curated By Kimba Thompson