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).
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Related stub person groups
  • College Of Fine Arts, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW (associate of)
  • Milani Gallery, Brisbane, QLD (associate of)
Related works
  • Controlled Atmosphere (creator of)
  • Drought: The Murray's Estuary (creator of)
  • Murray River Series (creator of)
  • Sumi Brush Painting (creator of)
  • Lake Thunder (creator of)
  • Bonsai Landscape (creator of)
  • Longevity: Scissors and Sickles (creator of)
  • Juggernaut (creator of)
  • Light House (creator of)
  • Tiananmen Square The People's Army (creator of)
  • Dogwoman makes history (creator of)
  • Dogwoman communicates with the younger generation (creator of)
  • Breadline (creator of)
  • Murray River Punch (performance) (creator of)
  • Mt Feathertop (creator of)
  • Murray Rivers Edge (creator of)
  • C20th Mythological Beasts: At home with the Locust People, and Sunset Video (creator of)
Related collections
  • University of California, Los Angeles, USA (collected in)
  • National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Harare (collected in)
  • Narodna Gallerija, Ljubljana, Slovenia (collected in)
  • Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow, Russia (collected in)
  • The Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA (collected in)
  • National Museum and Art Gallery, Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea (collected in)
  • National Art Gallery, Wellington, NZ (collected in)
  • Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands (collected in)
  • National Institute of Fine Arts, Mexico City, Mexico (collected in)
  • National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, Japan (collected in)
  • Gabinetto Nazionale delle Stampe, Rome, Italy (collected in)
  • Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel (collected in)
  • National Library of Indonesia, Jakarta (collected in)
  • National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi, India (collected in)
  • National Gallery and Alexandros Soutzos Museum, Athens, Greece (collected in)
  • British Museum, Department of Prints and Drawings, London, UK (collected in)
  • Staatliche Museum, West Berline, Germany (collected in)
  • Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, France (collected in)
  • Central Art Gallery, Beijing, China (collected in)
  • National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Canada (collected in)
  • Museo de Arts de Sao Paolo, Brazil (collected in)
  • Perci Tucker Regional Gallery, Townsville, QLD (collected in)
  • Naracoorte Art Gallery, Naracoorte, SA (collected in)
  • Newcastle Region Art Gallery, Newcastle, NSW (collected in)
  • City of Ballarat Fine Art Gallery, Ballarat, VIC (collected in)
  • Fremantle Arts Centre, Fremantle, WA (collected in)
  • Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Launceston, TAS (collected in)
  • The Araluen Centre, Alice Springs, NT (collected in)
  • Warrnambool Art Gallery, VIC (collected in)
  • Art Bank, Sydney, NSW (collected in)
  • Victorian Law Courts, Melbourne, VIC (collected in)
  • Griffith University, Brisbane, QLD (collected in)
  • University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW (collected in)
  • Museum of Contemporary Art, Brisbane, QLD (collected in)
  • untitled (collected in)
  • Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW (collected in)
  • National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, ACT (collected in)
Related recognitions
  • Henri Worland Memorial Arts Prize (received)
  • 1985 Visual Arts Board, Australia Council - Kiffi Rubbo Memorial Art Award Grant (received)
  • Short listed - National Sculpture Prize, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, ACT (received)
Related events
  • Urban Screens Melbourne 08 (USM08) (exhibited at)
  • When You Think About Art (exhibited at)
  • Heat: Art and Climate Change (exhibited at)
  • Henri Warland Art Prize (exhibited at)
  • Five by Five (exhibited at)
  • Procession (exhibited at)
  • The Cleveland Street Project (exhibited at)
  • States of Transformation (exhibited at)
  • National Sculpture Prize (exhibited at)
  • Even (exhibited at)
  • Outside In (exhibited at)
  • Reverb (exhibited at)
  • 3 Foot Square (exhibited at)
  • BORDERPANIC (exhibited at)
  • DBRef(u'xactivity', ObjectId('4da19591b538b73d93004974')) (exhibited at)
  • Shifting Currents (exhibited at)
  • We Are Australian (exhibited at)
  • The Acid Test (exhibited at)
  • Private Parts (exhibited at)
  • Gift For India (exhibited at)
  • Parking (exhibited at)
  • 25 Years of Performance Art in Australia (exhibited at)
  • The Women's Show (exhibited at)
  • The River (exhibited at)
  • Girls! Girls! Girls! (exhibited at)
  • Spirit Level: Fifth Australian Sculpture Triennial (exhibited at)
  • Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art (exhibited at)
  • Australian Prints (exhibited at)
  • In Transit (exhibited at)
  • Bicentennial Print Portfolio (exhibited at)
  • Making Appearances (exhibited at)
  • Performance Festival (exhibited at)
  • Continuum, Survey of Australian Art (exhibited at)
  • Perspecta (exhibited at)
  • 15 Sculptors (exhibited at)
  • The Security Show (exhibited at)
  • The Women's Show (exhibited at)
  • Women's Postal Event (exhibited at)
  • Post Object Show (exhibited at)
  • Three Statements on Environment (exhibited at)
  • The Grid Show (exhibited at)
  • Untitled Event (exhibited at)
  • The Murray's Edge (exhibited at)
  • Wildlife Documentary (exhibited at)
  • Outside Inside: Fragments of Place (exhibited at)
  • Inside Mawson's Sleeping Bag: the Poetics of Heroism (exhibited at)
  • Juggernaut [Asian Biennale of Contemporary Art] (exhibited at)
  • Light House (Public commission) (exhibited at)
  • Artists in the House (exhibited at)
  • Untitled Event (exhibited at)
  • Sleepers/Ties I, II, and III (exhibited at)
  • Histories (exhibited at)
  • "We Live To Be Surprised" (exhibited at)
  • Bellas Gallery (exhibited at)
  • Untitled Event (exhibited at)
  • Phototropic (exhibited at)
  • Dogwoman Makes History (exhibited at)
  • The Murray River Project (exhibited at)
  • Performance, Jabiluka UO2 (exhibited at)
  • Untitled Event (exhibited at)
  • Controlled Atmosphere (exhibited at)
  • The Murray River Project (exhibited at)
  • Mt Feathertop Project (exhibited at)
  • At Home With The Locust People (exhibited at)
  • Untitled Event (exhibited at)