Wowatjumatj Woka, Exhibition Opening

Liquid Architecture and Agency Projects are excited to present Moorina Bonini’s solo exhibition, Wowatjumatj Woka. Sourcing natural and discarded materials from Yorta Yorta Woka (Country), Moorina utilises field recording, cymatics and spatialisation to investigate the ways by which these physical objects resonate with, and are resonated by, the sonic landscape. Through transforming each object into a sound emitter, Woka reveals its harmonic and dissonant sonority with material fragments, architecture, earth and water, thereby (re)asserting its everpresent agency amongst people and place. 

For Aboriginal people, Woka is multi-faceted, and this project examines sound as a vital part of experiencing and knowing Woka. Building on Aboriginal mark-making as an articulation of Woka, the work extends previous projects including untitled (ethnographic container) (2023) and yenmatj (to burn) (2024). The vibrations will form markings on the surface of ochre and water, directly relating to South-Eastern Aboriginal marks as materialisations of knowledge. In this work, Woka has agency: through technology, its vibrations generate markings that further express knowledge and cultural agency. These marks connect to knowledge, Dreaming, ancestors, water, Aboriginal concepts of time, being, self, and family. Through sound and visual processes the invisible layers of Woka are made visible. The work considers how these unseen layers are felt through connection and relationality, and how sound can act as a portal to memory, Place, and Woka.

Moorina Bonini is a proud descendant of the Yorta Yorta Dhulunyagen family clan of Ulupna and the Yorta Yorta, Wurundjeri, and Wiradjuri Briggs/McCrae family. As an artist of Aboriginal and Italian heritage, her practice critiques and disrupts the eurocentric frameworks that shape institutional perceptions of Indigenous identity. Grounded in Indigenous Knowledge systems, Bonini’s work challenges colonial narratives, re-centers Aboriginal perspectives, and examines the intersections of culture, history, and representation.

Credits: 

Artist: Moorina Bonini (Yorta Yorta Dhulunyagen) 

Curator & Technical Advisor: Hayden Ryan (Yuin-Walbanja)

Violin: Maya Hodge (Lardil)

Poster Design by Paul Mylecharane

Portrait Image by Lucy Foster

Ochre Image by Janelle Low

Supported by Creative Australia; Creative Victoria; City of Yarra; The Australian Government’s Indigenous Visual Arts Industry Support Program