I have participated in international residencies which have had an enormous impact on the trajectory of my practice. I explored the active properties of plants through their use in building, dyeing, and scenting; highlighting their many uses and effects, centring my interest in our ever-changing relationship with earth resources. Being an Artist in Residence at Dar Slimane, Marrakesh expanded my practice to ecological concerns, bringing environmental awareness through the work. In 2019 I brought the botanical experiences from Morocco to Portsmouth’s community by joining Susan Stockwell and Rhiannon Amstrong at Aspex Gallery in the Exchange Exhibition and Summer Residency. This led to reaching a wide audience through the “Market Stall”, sharing “radical practices for social change” through the interactive installation commissioned for the Victorious Festival. During the residency period, my practice expanded to questions such as art accessibility by extending my work to the visually impaired community.
My interest in environmental practices took me to travel to one of the most biodiverse locations on Earth, The Osa Peninsula in Costa Rica, there I dedicated my time to research through the 2020 lockdowns, reflecting on alternative ways of living and working on ways of documenting such an environment with the aim of sharing environmental conservation concerns. Later that year I joined the Punta Mona Centre for Regenerative Design and Botanical Studies as the resident artist. Where I lived for a year, in 2021 expanding my practice through developing the Regenerative Arts program for the Centre, leading botanical explorative workshops, and collaborating in a group, curating “Arts Week”, an art festival focused on Regenerative Art practices and strengthening artists' networks.
Since then I have been exploring our relationship to plants and their medicinal properties as a student of Herbalism with Sage Maurer and the Gaia School of Healing as well as fostering an initiative called Regenerative Nomads.
My interest in environmental practices took me to travel to one of the most biodiverse locations on Earth, The Osa Peninsula in Costa Rica, there I dedicated my time to research through the 2020 lockdowns, reflecting on alternative ways of living and working on ways of documenting such an environment with the aim of sharing environmental conservation concerns. Later that year I joined the Punta Mona Centre for Regenerative Design and Botanical Studies as the resident artist. Where I lived for a year, in 2021 expanding my practice through developing the Regenerative Arts program for the Centre, leading botanical explorative workshops, and collaborating in a group, curating “Arts Week”, an art festival focused on Regenerative Art practices and strengthening artists' networks.
Since then I have been exploring our relationship to plants and their medicinal properties as a student of Herbalism with Sage Maurer and the Gaia School of Healing as well as fostering an initiative called Regenerative Nomads.
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MONICA BONOMO
Instagram: @ monica_bonomo
[email protected]
EDUCATION / QUALIFICATIONS
Herbalism The Gaia School of Healing 2020 - ongoing
MA Fine Art Arts University Bournemouth 2016 - 2017
BA (Hons) Fine Art Arts University Bournemouth 2011 - 2014
ACADEMIC PRACTICE
2024 Delivering Herbal workshops for the community as part of Access BEAF Resident Artists Programme, UK.
2022- 23 Delivering Sharpening our Senses, a workshop oriented to observation, exploration and play through discovering the colours of plants. For Wild Wise at The Medicine Festival, UK.
2021 Delivering Back to Basics, workshop oriented to the harvesting, processing, and weaving of local plants from the bioregion of Punta Mona, Costa Rica.
Delivering Intentional Colours, introduction to natural dyes workshop, experimenting with plants from the bioregion of Punta Mona, Costa Rica.
Programming and curating Regenerative Arts at Punta Mona Center for Regenerative Design and Botanical Studies, Costa Rica
2019 Delivering Botanical Sensory Workshops to schools and visually impaired audiences as part of Aspex's "Exchange" Summer Residency Program
Assisting Susan Stockwell with Rumpelstiltkin workshops
Delivering "Natural dyes for sustainability" workshop as part of the Women's Empowerment program of the High Atlas Foundation, Marrakesh
2018 Delivering “Matter Collaborations” workshop to Ma Fine Art students at the Arts University Bournemouth
2017 Assisting curators and artists at the Boite-en-Valise: Generator in the preview week of the 57th Venice Biennale
Assisting with setting up the exhibition for the Jerwood Drawing Prize at The Gallery at AUB
CURRENT PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE
Symposia/ Artists talks
2019 Artist talk at Aspex Gallery, Portsmouth, UK
Artist talk at the Arts University Bournemouth, UK
2017 Jerwood Drawing Prize, Panel Discussion: What is Drawing? AUB, Bournemouth
Discussion: Art and Its Materials, Spike Island, Bristol
World of Colour, Society of Dyers and Colourists, UAL, London
2016 Respondent at the Tensegrity Symposium, Tenderpixel, London
EXHIBITIONS
Selected Group Exhibitions
2024 Connected Grounds, Access BEAF Resident Artists Programme, Bournemouth, UK.
2021 Art Week, Punta Mona Center for Regenerative Design and Botanical Studies, CR
2019 Exchange, Aspex Gallery, UK
2018 This temporary matter, Bath Arts Fringe, UK
Infinite Content, Bournemouth Emerging Arts Fringe, UK
2017 Drawing by any other name. A response to the 2017 Jerwood Drawing Prize, Live Project Space, The Gallery, Arts University Bournemouth, UK
2016 Inside Art, Southbourne, Dorset, Uk
2015 Restart, Science and Art Festival, Klaipeda, Lithuania
2014 -15 Camouflage, The Blank, Bergamo, Visualcontainer TV, Vegapunk Studios, Milan, Italy
2014 Bad Behaviour, Brixton East, London, UK
Best of the West, Pounds Arts, Pound Pill, Corshan, UK
Teeth Cut, Free Range, London, UK
The Basement, MST Gallery, Boscombe, UK
2013 OUTPUT, Experimental sound and video, Drop Project Gallery, Bournemouth, UK
Grey Matter: Drawing Exhibition, Drop Project Gallery, Bournemouth, UK
Drop Project Opening, Drop Project Gallery, Bournemouth, UK
AUB-1,5,7, Dorset Tech, Boscombe, UK
Defining Practice, Museum of Design in Plastics, Bournemouth, UK
2012 Hide Project, Holton Lee, Poole, Dorset, UK
2011 Excellence in Foundation 2011, The Triangle Gallery, Chelsea College of Art and Design, London, UK
PUBLICATIONS
2018 Bonomo, M, "Artist. In: "A Recipe Book", Limited edition, UK
AWARDS/GRANTS
2018 The Batsford Prize, “Craving Colours”, Runner up
Bournemouth Emerging Arts Fringe Commission
2017 Travel Prize awarded by the Department of Fine Arts, Faculty of Arts and Design, AUB
2014 The Batsford Prize, "Working in Three Dimensions", Shortlisted
RESIDENCIES
2023-24 Resident Artist, Access BEAF Resident Artists Programme, Bournemouth, UK.
2021 Resident artist, Punta Mona Center for Regenerative Design and Botanical Studies, CR
2019 Summer Residency, Aspex Gallery, Portsmouth, UK
Dar Slimane, second period, Marrakesh, Morocco
2018 Dar Slimane, first period, Marrakesh, Morocco