Donina Asera

Self-taught Melbourne-based artist, Donina Asera, has been honing her eye from an early age while she watched her grandfather paint still-lifes and landscapes in his studio. While she has always drawn, Donina has also experimented in photography (digital and large-format film), and various forms of printmaking. "My works in both series depict an imagined land of gods, creatures, and machines that populate a colourful landscape. The creatures appear across several works as protagonists and witnesses, in much the same way multiple characters might be woven through a series of stories or books. The flat, abstracted landscapes can appear stage-like, with the creatures taking on a performative aspect, seemingly caught mid-act with a self-conscious sense of being observed. The result is a series of characters moving towards a pre-determined fate with an air of pantomime" She began painting on canvases in late 2018 and in March 2020 during lockdown, felt that her style had reached a sufficient maturity to make them publicly available. Donina has since been selected for the juried Art2Life International Art Exhibition in 2020, selected as a finalist of the Artlovers Australia 2021 Art Prize, and a finalist of the Art to Art 2021 Unearthed Art Prize. She has participated in a number of group exhibitions, and works in both private and personal collections in Europe, US, and Australia.