about the artist

Ariella is an emerging contemporary artist living and working on Kaurna Country, with a Bachelor of Contemporary Art, and a Bachelor of Creative Art (Honours). Passionate about uplifting the art spaces of Adelaide, she volunteers within multiple community spaces. One of these spaces is the artist-run initiative FELTspace. As a Co-Director (Access and Inclusion), she helps coordinate gallery and workshop events, special projects, and assists with the exhibition program.

Working across media, Ariella’s practice employs queer feminist methodologies aiming to celebrate sexual expression unbound by heteronormative assumptions of the human experience. Ultimately, she seeks to bring pleasure to individuals who have been denied it or taught to deprive themselves of it for the benefit of others.​​​​​​​ Ariella finds it important to understand oppressive patriarchal systems and the policing of gender and sexual expression to better explore our internal dialogue around sex and identity. Informed by post-essentialist theories and feminist writers, such as Audre Lorde, she is motivated by her internal struggle with feelings of submitting to the dominant influences around her. Her practice values accessibility and empowerment: it’s reflective and responsive to society and social justice.

Ariella’s honours exegesis Pleasure Unbound: My Queer Joy [as ooze] delved into the discourse around gender, sexuality, pleasure, and ooze. Central to her work is the concept of ooze; a physical and psychological concept. It is life - the egg and sperm, the transformation of cells as we are formed. Ooze is living - excrement, sweat, and gunk produced by the body. It is identity - fluid, dynamic, and never fixed. Her contribution to queer research aimed to amplify diverse voices and encourage societal acceptance of identities currently existing outside of heteronormative ideals.