Violet Bond

Violet Bond is an Australian multi-disciplinary artist who grew up in the very remote outback of Northern Australia on Indigenous Land. She is an environmental artist who works with her nature, the seasons, the elements "everything that lies beneath her feet". Violet has always been fascinated by death, decomposition and the natural cycle of life in the wild places.

Initially a traditional artist, she creates ceramics using wild clay, and sculptures made from bone, feathers and other natural found materials. Indigenous Australian art practice has always been a source of endless wonder and admiration for Violet as she watched first nations people create from elements found in the bush and nothing else. Her practice is truly rooted in a deep connection to the natural world.

This link is even more perceptible in her performances. Her body becomes her own material with which she is free to express all her thoughts and connections, initiating a dialogue between (wo)-man and the raw beauty of nature, prompting spectators to reflect on their relationship with the wilderness. Performative self-portraiture using digital technology allows Violet to pass on to viewers a little of her experience of these lands and gives her the ability to capture the wild and it’s fleeting beauty, an ephemeral and unique performance deeply rooted in the Australian landscape. She creates from grass, water, ashes and bones, so she has little to no impact on the environment in which she works. Violet's aim is to make viewers aware of the importance of nature and to deepen our understanding of the world and its fragility.

She presents herself in a raw and unfiltered way, her body as sculpture itself. She tells anyone who will listen that these are not her lands, but those of the Indigenous people of Australia, with colonization an ever present tension in her work. Violet Bond insists on respecting the Traditional Owners of the land, and always asks for their permission before creating works on county. 

Her attraction and affection for nature is also evident in Violet's respect for and fascination with the cycle of life. Death, fire, water - with each new image she creates a visual metaphor for this ceaseless cycle of life and death, destruction and renewal. Each work bears witness to a profound respect for, but also a deep understanding of, this cycle that honors the natural balance of things, as well as a tribute to the earth and its eternal language.