WILD FLOWER series film photographed on the hanalei river and the north shore of Kauai in September 2011. Exhibited April 2012

OPENING Divine Feminine Hibiscus dancing in the river while kayaking

ENTERING Divine Masculine Banana Flower Presence while on foot to the ocean

SEA CHILDREN

photographed on Steps Beach Nantucket summer 2012. Exhibition summer 2013

the essence of childhood. The intrinsic nature of joy, not pain, within surrounding nurture of all sorts

Above are LEO CAPRICORN and TAURUS. Each astrological sign is represented.

ICELAND series first showed at Live Worms Gallery in North Beach in San Francisco in 2009.

MOTHER series is the artwork that I, Melissa, am currently working on. It was film photographed in the Spring 2017 around the US during a five week sojourn looking at landscape. I am making Tarot Cards of landscapes only. Major Arcana. The land belongs to the Earth and Native Americans here are her natural inhabitants, stewards and attuned. I am an artist moment here. I am looking, feeling, listening, remembering. I am considering my family of generations here. On earth. Why am I doing this? Who am I to tell this story? One woman, making. Intersections. Layers. Genealogy. Zeitgeist. What does it take to be a Mother before being a Mother on Mother Earth? Searching for answers. Does it mean bending over? In lingerie? Selling out? Competing? I hope not. Does it mean monetizing others language, words out of desperation? I wish not. Does it mean being everything, being everyone instead of yourself? Exhausting. Exhausted. Too much. Is it feminist? Is there community? Not when there’s destructive gossip. Does it mean either being a clone or lust, like on the dating apps which I am too sensitive to ever do? Does it mean matching someone’s criteria like a job application, a date like an interview, looking for red flags. Very unloving. Luckily I am the tail end of Gen X, Oregon trail micro generation, and so I remember romance.