Age, animal welfare, spirituality, love and intimacy for people with and without disabilities – these are the themes Melanie Bonajo (born in 1978 in Heerlen, Netherlands) explores in experimental documentary films and colourful video installations. In keeping with the appealing visual language of the films, Bonajo and Theo Demans create unique environments in each museum space: sometimes viewers sit on giant yellow stuffed animals, sometimes in a yurt, sometimes in a womb-like cave, or on wheelchairs in a spaceship-like setting.

Without moralising, but rather in an approachable and playful manner, Bonajo radically dissects the big questions of our time and implicitly calls for more respect and a more loving approach to nature, animals and the environment, to other people and, last but not least, to our own bodies.

Fig.: Schule der Liebenden, 2024, film still, Courtesy of the artist and AKINCI