Interview
Melanie Brooke Haley
Melanie is a nomadic witch artist who uses art to manifest, self reflect and heal her inner child. She has been painting her whole life. Her preferred style is a la prima but she has experience in other techniques and mediums.
What is your background and how did you start your journey in the art world?
“Art has been an essential part of my life since, before I could remember. I was raised by an emotionally unavailable eggshell mother and art was my way of staying out the way, while expressing emotions silently. My art is about transmutation and evolution, it's my witchy way of saying no matter what life throws at you, you can tap into inner strength. I'm a survivor of rape, financial abuse, involuntary domestic servitude and healing the generational effects of narcissistic abuse. Vulnerability is human and we live in a society that shames us into thinking it's a weakness that should be hidden. When it should be addressed. Understanding brings compassion. Shame keeps people bound to the abuse. Lately, Medusa has been appearing in my work allot, she was a victim of rape too, who was then painted as the "villain" when she started coming out in my paintings I didn't know that. So yes, my art comments on the scapegoated child, ,& the challenges it brings as an adult. People mistake my art as erotic because I paint allot of nude women suspended in bondage. When really it's a metaphor for the feelings of defenselessness and fear of exposure due to shame, the stuff that keeps one bound in fear. There is magic in every one of my paintings, sometimes I even include my own menstrual blood, sigils for strength justice truth protection & transformation. It's all about healing through manifestation and release. Art has saved my life. Got me out of my darkest times. Even when I was homeless I never stopped painting. Art is what kept me going.”
What does your work aim to say? Does it comment on any current social or political issues?
“My art aims to highlight the invisible struggles of narcissistic abuse. And how we can always change our reality. It's about inner strength and transmutation.”
Do you plan your work in advance, or is it improvisation?
“Mostly improvised, unless I'm doing a piece for a client that has a concept already in mind. Art is my portal to the Divine an intersection between metaphysics and ethics. It really is a therapeutic and magical process for me.”
Are there any art world trends are you following?
“I absolutely love the concept and aesthetics of HA Schultz's art made from trash. Waste is such a big issue in our society.”
What process, materials and techniques do you use to create your artwork?
“Painting for me, happens at a meditative state. I'll put on a audiobooks on esoteric knowledge or psychology or or blast some blackened thrash metal & go into a meditative trance and I'm emptied of unnecessary thought this helps me tap into my creativity. My style is aliprima with heavy body acrylics. I sometime incorporate spray paint.”
What does your art mean to you?
“Art is everything to me. It has saved my life on multiple occasions. It was my babysitter, my best friend, my therapist, it's introspection, it's magic, it's manifestation. It connects me to source. It grounds me.”
What’s your favourite artwork and why?
“Bosch's hell. The layers of symbolism, the way it feels like s prediction of what society would become. It also gives me a feeling of nostalgia, or familiarity, as if we share a daemon.”
Instagram: @aletheia_embodied
Brush Bio: www.brush.bio/aletheia
