melanie bonajo

Born 1978 | Heerlen
Lives and works Amsterdam

melanie bonajo is an artist, filmmaker, sexological bodyworker, somatic sex coach and educator, cuddle workshop facilitator and activist. Through their videos, performances, photographs, and installations, they address themes of eroding intimacy and isolation in an increasingly sterile, technological world. In TouchMETell 2019, bonajo and a group of children aged 6-8 investigate how they experience their own bodies and physical contact with others. The artist uses open interview techniques and kinaesthetic forms of play. The children answer as best they can while they push, hug, paint, or stroke each other. The artist explains, ‘we seem to have forgotten the language of the body. In a world where digital contact predominates, many of us are increasingly struggling with intimacy and defining boundaries and needs. What does the lump in my throat or the knot in my stomach tell me? Our proverbial language reveals the wisdom of the body, but how can we really learn to listen to it?’

melanie bonajo, TouchMETell 2019. Single-channel video installation. 24 mins 27 secs. Courtesy the artist and AKINCI. Courtesy the artist and AKINCI. Film still. © melanie bonajo