)
‘Humans morphed into absurd sculptures'
Melanie Bonajo (b. 1978) makes slightly eccentric photos that make you chuckle. Models are photographed in a seemingly ‘unprofessional' manner in unusual situations. With a head that is plastered with passport photos or rendered insignificant behind a sheaf of paper, for example, or naked bodies trussed up with ropes that have balloons attached to them. ‘I think playfulness and humour are important in every photo,' says Bonajo. For the ‘Action Heroes' series she convinced family and friends to pose in the craziest positions.
Nature features remarkably often as a surrealistic decor in Bonajo's stage-managed work with a raw ‘edge'.
Bonajo has created look books for the luxury cashmere label KIND and for Bernhard Willhelm, and has collaborated with the fashion phenomenon Cassette Playa. She graduated from Amsterdam's Rietveld Academy in 2002. Her work has been published in underground magazines such as Livraison, Vice, GLU and KUTT, and she has been involved with the art-photography periodical Capricious since its second issue. For the ‘Capricious' group exhibition at the Stedelijk Museum Bureau Amsterdam in 2006, Bonajo presented her absurdist images in a slide show with an accompanying soundtrack. Bonajo created publicity photos for the first Arnhem Fashion Biennale in 2005.