Artist statement

Speaking back to western structures and systems that continue to govern Indigenous epistemology, '(un)held + (re)stored = stolen' disrupts western modes of thinking to ultimately privilege Indigenous perspective and voice.

Western institutions hold cultural materials and objects that have in some cases been stolen and collected in unethical ways from Indigenous people. '(un)held + (re)stored = stolen' illuminates the urgency for community access and agency in these spaces.

About Moorina Bonini

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 reexamination of lived experiences that have influenced the construction of her cultural identity. By unsettling the narrative placed upon Aboriginal people as a result of colonisation of Aboriginal Australia, Bonini’s practice is based within Indigenous knowledge systems and brings this to the fore.

Moorina holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from RMIT University and a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Honours) from the Victorian College of the Arts. Moorina is currently a research candidate at Monash University where she is undertaking a PhD within the Wominjeka Djeembana Research Lab. Her work has been exhibited in various shows and galleries across Australia.

This work is part of 'Moving Objects', commissioned by RISING, Museums Victoria and YIRRAMBOI and made possible by the Metro Tunnel Creative Program.