dapalama (between) 

vinyl text and charcoal

Presented as part of Primavera 2023 at the Museum of Contemporary Art

“My dapalama (between) practice is an articulation of my wanyarra (active) code-switching between Indigenous knowledge systems and western discourse, explored in the space between my bawu (body) and the western institution, and between my mark-making and the gallery.”

— Moorina Bonini

An artist whose works are informed by her experiences as an Aboriginal and Italian woman, Moorina Bonini’s practice attempts to disrupt and critique Eurocentric ideas of the Indigenous, especially within western institutions. Grounded in Indigenous knowledge systems, Bonini’s practice also seeks to unsettle the narratives imposed on Aboriginal people as a result of colonisation.

In dapalama (between), Indigenous language and gestural marks, using charcoal from Country, form a counterpoint to the Museum’s traditional white walls. Together, they assert that Indigenous histories and knowledge pre-date such institutions and offer holistic world views often neglected by western discourse.

Place Marks (2023), Bonini’s second work for Primavera 2023, is a photo essay featured in the accompanying exhibition catalogue. Documenting the artist’s burnt marks on museum archival boxes, it points to histories of claiming and categorising Indigenous cultural materials in institutional collections.