ART

Towards:

The series Towards: is an attempt to express the intangible emotional layers that augment the experience – and engineering feat – of modern air travel. A sense of escape, possibility, unknown, and other such evocations of travel become visible in these photographs via light leaks and aurora-esque colours. Mirroring the ideas of unpredictability and unfolding, Towards: uses no digital editing. Instead, the dreamscape we tend to experience around flying is depicted through physically affecting 35mm film by hand with heat, saltwater, citrus, and sunflowers, drying it out, and waiting to see what develops.

Hope

Towards:

Hope

Towards:

Hope

Towards:

Reinvention

Towards:

Reinvention

Towards:

Reinvention

Towards:

Possibility

Towards:

Possibility

Towards:

Possibility

Towards:

Escape

Towards:

Escape

Towards:

Escape

Towards:

Unknown

Towards:

Unknown

Towards:

Unknown

Towards:

Transcendence

Towards:

Transcendence

Towards:

Transcendence

Towards:

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Artist Statement

Influenced by surrealism and interested in abstraction, my practice employs experimental photography and mixed-media techniques primarily to self-reflect. Drawn to all things analogue, I combine film photography with alchemic processes to disrupt the development process and physically alter the resulting images. I also layer photographic images with other media to alter them post-development. Central to my process is working with the dual forces of intention and chaos. I deliberately affect chemical emulsions and apply media which cause unpredictable results. These include light leaks, texture, polychromatic colour, and amorphous shapes. I opt not to digitally edit, preferring a tactile approach, organic outcomes, and to embrace aberrations. This approach facilitates emergent meaning, allowing for symbols, patterns, and narratives to be interpreted post hoc by both myself as the artist and viewer. Themes I explore include personal experiences of emotion states, identity, bisexuality, perception (including synesthesia), and existentialism. I hope to evoke introspection and invite open-ended interpretation rather than prescriptive meaning.

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I acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the unceded lands and waters where I work and live, the Wurundjeri People of the Kulin Nation. I pay my respects to Elders past, present, and future, and celebrate the ongoing art, storytelling, and cultural traditions that have been practised on this land by one of the oldest cultures on the planet.

 © 2025 - Melanie Skyers

Sign up to my mailing list

I acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the unceded lands and waters where I work and live, the Wurundjeri People of the Kulin Nation. I pay my respects to Elders past, present, and future, and celebrate the ongoing art, storytelling, and cultural traditions that have been practised on this land by one of the oldest cultures on the planet.

 © 2025 - Melanie Skyers

Sign up to my mailing list

I acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the unceded lands and waters where I work and live, the Wurundjeri People of the Kulin Nation. I pay my respects to Elders past, present, and future, and celebrate the ongoing art, storytelling, and cultural traditions that have been practised on this land by one of the oldest cultures on the planet.

 © 2025 - Melanie Skyers