Bonita Ely b. 1946

  • Artist (Performance Artist),
  • Artist (Painter),
  • Artist (Sculptor),
  • Artist (Draughtsman),
  • Artist (Printmaker),
  • Artist (Photographer),
  • Artist (Video Artist)
Bonita Ely established her reputation as an environmental artist in the early 1970s through her work on the Murray Darling rivers. She has a diverse practice across various media and has often addressed feminist, environmental and socio-political issues. Dr Ely is Head of the Sculpture, Performance and Installation Department at COFA, University of New South Wales, where she is a founding member of the Environmental Research Institute for Art (ERIA).
creator of
Drought: The Murray's Estuary
Date
URL
http://www.bonitaely.com/site/
 
creator of
Murray River Series
Date
URL
http://www.bonitaely.com/site/?page_id=10
 
creator of
Lake Thunder
Date
URL
http://www.bonitaely.com/site/?page_id=33

Thuy Tien Lake, Thien An, Hue, Vietnam. Tube steel, photovoltaic paint; 6 metres high. Public sculpture commission, 4th International Sculpture Symposium, Hue , Vietnam.

 
creator of
Sumi Brush Painting
Date
URL
http://www.bonitaely.com/site/?page_id=34
 
creator of
Bonsai Landscape
Date
URL
http://nga.gov.au/Exhibition/SculpturePrize05/Detail.cfm?MnuID=2&SubMnuID=1&BioArtistIRN=12964&IRN=139760

Installation for the Australian exhibition, Outside Inside: Fragments in Place, Museum of Art, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, USA

 
creator of
Longevity: Scissors and Sickles
Date
URL
http://www.bonitaely.com/site/?page_id=31

City Hall, Hue, Vietnam. Sand caste bronze; 1.2M diam. X 2.2 M H. Public sculpture commission, 3rd International Sculpture Symposium: Hue, Vietnam.

 
creator of
Juggernaut
Date
URL
http://www.bonitaely.com/site/?page_id=30

This work was shown at the Asian Biennale of Contemporary Art, Dhaka, Bangladesh; Customs House, Sydney and the Bellas Gallery, Brisbane.

 
creator of
Light House
Date
URL
http://www.bonitaely.com/site/?page_id=30

Playground of the Children’s Cultural Centre, Le Loi Street, Hue. Brick, reinforced concrete, ceramic, paint. Approx. 5.5 metres high, 1.5 metres diameter. Built using traditional Vietnamese building methods and materials, Public sculpture commission, architectural folly. 1st International Sculpture Symposium: Hue, Vietnam.

 
creator of
Tiananmen Square The People's Army
Date
URL
http://www.bonitaely.com/site/?page_id=29
 
creator of
Dogwoman makes history
Date
URL
http://www.bonitaely.com/site/?page_id=29
 
creator of
Controlled Atmosphere
Date
URL
http://www.bonitaely.com/site/?page_id=29
 
creator of
Dogwoman communicates with the younger generation
Date
URL
http://www.bonitaely.com/site/?page_id=29

See also Cat Moore’s Dissonance…., p. 257

 
creator of
Breadline
Date
 
creator of
Murray River Punch (performance)
Date
URL
http://www.bonitaely.com/site/?page_id=18

This piece was also performed in 1981 at Rundle Street Mall, Adelaide, during the artist’s Experimental Art Foundation residency. George Paton and Ewing Gallery, Melbourne University. Women at Work, a festival of women’s performance art.

 
creator of
Murray Rivers Edge
Date
URL
http://www.bonitaely.com/site/?page_id=25
 
creator of
Locust People
Date

Installed in the Experimental Art Foundation basement, 1976

 
creator of
Mt Feathertop
Date
URL
http://www.bonitaely.com/site/?page_id=27

First shown at the Mildura Sculpture Triennial 1975

 
creator of
C20th Mythological Beasts: At home with the Locust People, and Sunset Video
Date
URL
http://www.videoartchive.org.au/bely/sunset.html

The installation and video were first shown in the Post Object Show at the Experimental Art Foundation, Adelaide.