A Refreshing Conversation with Melissa Joseph
Photo Credit: Alex Nunez
Melissa Joseph is a New York-based multimedia artist. Her work addresses themes of memory, family history, and the politics of how we occupy spaces. She intentionally alludes to the labors of women, her experiences as a first-generation American, and the unique juxtapositions of diasporic life. Her work has been shown at the Delaware Contemporary, Woodmere Art Museum, Utah Museum of Contemporary Art, Brattleboro Museum and Art Center, Jeffrey Deitch Projects, and featured in Hyperallergic, Artnet, Artnews, New American Paintings, CNN, Zyzzyva, Architectural Digest. She has participated in residencies, including Dieu Donné Workspace Residency, Fountainhead, BRIC Video Artist Residency, the Archie Bray Foundation for Ceramic Arts, and has upcoming residencies at the Museum of Arts and Design and Greenwich House Pottery. Her past show in September was the second installment of the show Wonder Women, curated by Kathy Huang, at Jeffrey Deitch in LA. And Melissa has a solo show with new work called Conflicting Truths next March at the List Gallery at Swarthmore College.
I had the pleasure of asking Melissa what made her artist and curator, what advice she would give to another artist, and so much more.
UZOMAH: What is the most important duty an artist has?
MELISSA: I think it is to honor their calling. We all have a different one.
Airplane Window Series 14A and 14B, 96 x 48 inches (each) , needle felted wool on amate bark paper 2021
U: What are some similarities and differences between the visual and literary arts in how people see and absorb them?
M: I think both are beautiful ways of describing the human condition. I read a lot of poetry and think of my work as visual poems. I think since the rise of social media, it’s been harder to get people to sit with words. Visual art offers something to viewers immediately, but it often also rewards close looking.
Supersibs, 36 x 48 inches, needle felted wool and sari silk on industrial felt, 2022
U: What advice would you give an artist who wants to submit to an exhibit or wants gallery representation?
M: I would say a few things- first, that there is not just one way to do it. I suggest applying to a lot of open calls. I wish open calls were free, but since they aren’t, it makes sense to focus on the ones that are in places where you would like to see your work. Also, I suggest looking for ways to create your own opportunities. Social media is great for that, but also networking with local artists, curating shows, publications, and online exhibitions. The possibilities are endless and only limited by our imaginations. Last, and maybe most importantly, cultivate a community of artists that you support and that support you that is not transactional. It’s a long game to make it in the art world, and the people you surround yourself with will go through it with you.
Emptyset, a portrait. 47 x 66 inches, needle felted wool and sari silk on amate bark paper, 2021
U: What makes creating art still something you want to do and pursue as a career? What made you want to be an artist and curator?
M: I don’t think I chose this path. I think it chose me. I did other things for a long time, but this was always there, calling me until finally, I listened. Art is a way, and as good as any other, to try to make sense of things in this crazy world.
Peanut m&ms, Nike and bunny ears on grandparent's swing, 19 x 26 inches. Inkjet print, needle felted wool and sari silk on Indian dupioni silk, 2020
U: Your artwork explores gender and space. How do you use space to explore and explain gender roles?
M: I think being an artist as a woman is a radical act. The statistics, the market, and history show over and over again that we are not seen as equals or valued as such. I don’t think that will change in my lifetime, but I can push through and fight for visibility for those who come after me, as many artists did before me. As a POC, it is even more difficult but just as important. I am standing on the shoulders of many anonymous artists and culture producers. And I want to create space for more, even if it’s just a little bit at a time. It is my hope for the work that I do in textiles that are often attributed to the labor of women to be shown in institutional spaces that they normally would be excluded from. The goal is for them to take up space and to be in dialogue with other artists of this moment.
Dad, Julie and Bap after Manet, 48 x 72 inches, needle felted wool and sari silk on industrial felt, 2022
U: How can galleries and museums take the initiative to include more artists who identify as POC?
M: This is an ongoing conversation without a simple answer. One way is to hire POC for jobs in the higher-level management/ownership of these spaces. We can’t keep the power structures the same as they have always been and just have POC in the periphery. That model hasn’t and will never work.
Onam, 36 x 48 inches, needle felted wool and sari silk on industrial felt, 2022
U: Can you discuss some of your ongoing series, and which one stands out to you the most as an example of your artistic process and statement as an artist?
M: I think one thing I am doing now is trying to find ways to seamlessly blend the materials together to make a work that reads as complete and whole. Because I am bi-racial, I am constantly trying to reconcile very different cultures into a cohesive identity. So when I make an image that is part felt and part ceramic, but they read as a single work, and it’s hard to tell where one stops, and one starts, I feel I am capturing a lot about the in-between spaces we all occupy.
For more information about Melissa's art, please visit her site, and follow her on Instagram.
