Portfolio
Melanie Maria
Creator
Melanie Maria works where silence and visibility collide.
Through persistent making, she forces the unacknowledged
into the light.
Researching the
unspoken,
redefining the seen
Fading presence (2024)
Bio
Melanie Maria (Haarlem, 1993) transforms the
friction between artistic discipline and life’s
unseen transitions. Trained in dance and theatre,
she first gained recognition and awards for
durational performances and large-scale sculptural
interventions where public space became a stage
for collective participation.
Motherhood radicalized her work. Through
podcasts, photography, manifestos, and her
ongoing performance In Silent Retreat, she
exposes the stigmatized "gaps" in creative careers
—turning caregiving into a deliberate artistic
methodology. Her practice dissects matrescence
as both intimate metamorphosis and societal
omission.
Beyond visual and textual work, she architects
multiple platforms and coaches women to navigate
the paradoxes of creation and carePublished in the
well-known book Eye Mama and featured
internationally, she relentlessly breaks the stigmas
surrounding motherhood in art—proving caregiving
and creativity are not opposites, but inseparable
forces.
Jan Naaijkensprijs 2020 & VKC Award 2019
AWARDS
Base for Experiment, Art & Research ArtEZ University of the Arts, Arnhem (NL) Specialization: Fine Art, Performance |
Dance in Education ATD Amsterdam University of the Arts, Amsterdam (NL) Specialization: Choreography, Contemporary Dance (Floorwork), & Dance |
The Art of Belonging ArtEZ University of the Arts, Arnhem (NL) Masterclass course focused on the psychological aspects of problematic |
Artist in Residence Fondazione Pistoletto Cittadellarte, Biella (IT) Artistic research about art as part of intervention in public space. |
Education
Melanie Maria’s path has forged a
unique artistic voice that transforms
silence into revolution. Her training
taught her to see the body as a living
sculpture, space as a stage for truth,
and every moment as an opportunity for
profound connection. This is not art
about objects—it’s about awakening.
With a director’s precision and a
performer’s courage, she crafts
experiences that don’t just display, but
transform.
Archive
2025
The Mother Mindset
2025
In Silent Retreat
2024
Fading Prescence
A living manifesto disguised as performance. Its
core text declares motherhood’s ‘gaps’ as sites of
revolution, not lack—challenging every institution
that measures art by output.
www.insilentretreat.com
A photographic reckoning with matrescence—
where erasures paint deeper truths. Children
dissolve under tactile brushstrokes, making
motherhood’s invisible labor hauntingly visible.
Each mark becomes a fossil of transformation.
2023
Rebirth
2022
Labour
2022
Openbaring
A meditation on decay and renewal—where a
fallen tree becomes both cradle and canvas.
Implanted with immortal Reishi, its body
transforms endlessly, questioning where life ends
and new growth begins.
A raw document of birth and creation merging—
filmed where living room becomes studio,
motherhood becomes art. Co-created with artist-
mother Sarah van Thoor, it questions where bodily
labor ends and artistic labor begins.
A podcast dissecting art world truths—where
artist-parents, institutions, and allies share
unfiltered stories. Hosted by Melanie Maria and
Kija Benford (Vrouwenmantel Art Research Group),
it maps the uncharted terrain between creative
practice and caregiving.
2021
Manifest
2021
Selfportrait with my Son
2019
Never learnt to share
A guerrilla proclamation pasted on city streets—
where art world ignorance meets maternal
revolution. This text weaponizes motherhood as
both critique and cosmic rebirth, declaring the
Artist Mother as art’s necessary new deity.
A photographic subversive reimagining of The
Death of Marat—where martyrdom becomes
matrescence. Breastfeeding amidst wild ivy, the
artist transforms sacrificial imagery into a
testament to motherhood’s unseen heroism.
A 9 hour durational performance dismantling of
individuality—where 1,500 carnations and
entangled bodies blurred all boundaries. For nine
hours daily, performers distributed flowers and
embraces, proving our deepest isolation is also
our shared language.
TAC x HTC
2022 | commisioned work
Social Aspects
2021 | Derde Wal
Seen
a brief selection
Season Highlights
2020 | Kunstpodium T
Smart Distance Lab
2020 | This Art Fair
Nothing to Sell
2019 | Museo d’Arte Contemporanea (IT)
Delft Fringe Festival
2017 | Choreographer, Director
Kunst in de Stad
2022 | commisioned work
5 Jaar Kunst op de Koffie
2021 | Performative lecture
VSE Annual Conference
2019 | Inspirational speaker
Apprentice Master Returns From The Web
2020 | Temporary Art Centre
Best of Graduates 2019
2019 | Galerie Ron Mandos
Festival Hongerige Wolf
2017 | Choreographer, Director
Interview on balancing motherhood and artistry
in a world where pregnancy is often still taboo,
and the search for recognition as a mother-
artist.
The "Eye Mama" book is a photographic
portfolio showcasing the mama narrative and
the mama gaze, what female and non-binary
photographers see when they look at, and into
the home.
Essay on art, motherhood, and the weight of ‘I’
becoming ‘we’.
Kunst en Carriere
Eye Mama
Witte Rook x Vrouwenmantel Art
Research Group
INTERVIEW
BOOK PUBLICATION
ESSAY
Press
Top Art School Graduates 2024: Meet six
emerging talents showcased in Galerie Ron
Mandos' prestigious 'Best of Graduates'
exhibition.
De beste afstudeerders van Nederland
REVIEW
Review of the new generation artists from
Palet Magazine.
De jongste generatie kunstenaars
REVIEW
Interview based upon the research during the
residency at Cittadellarte.
Cittadellarte Open Studio
INTERVIEW
Be grateful.
Contact
Melanie Maria
melanie @ melanie - maria . com