Interview
Melissa Granger
Melissa is excited to create a shared space where people can find emotional connection.
They believe in the power of self-parenting, using playfulness, curiosity, compassion, and love to replace fear, doubt, shame, and guilt.
Melissa’s artistic adventures are centered around re-imagining and repurposing found items, as a means to understand and relate with self and others. They have found their voice and is excited to share it widely.
What is your background and how did you start your journey in the art world?
“I’m a queer disabled person thriving in our collective hellscape of White Settlerism, capitalism, hyper-consumerism and White patriarchy. It’s taken a good 20 years to find my voice of resistance, courage, love, and compassion to actively pursue my curious interests, despite social norms discrediting my adventures at every turn. I studied women’s studies and religion at Concordia University, and I’m currently pursuing another undergraduate degree at McGill in social work, and soon to be medieval studies.
My art journey began this January with an assignment in my anti-oppressive social work practice class. We were tasked with creating a mask of perceptions about ourselves, which was uncomfortable as I was never encouraged to pursue anything artistic as a child. Instead, the stories I heard about myself growing up were rooted in inadequacy, shame, and punishment.
As I progressed in constructing this mask—which ended up being 3 cereal boxes—my art history class simultaneously provided the history and theory behind the techniques for my mask, all unbeknownst to me. When I finally, and genuinely connected the dots, I was dumbfounded at this intersection I found myself in.
Every day since, I’ve used my hands to create more meaningful visual representations of myself and how I relate to everything around me. I have transformed in a plethora of ways that I had no idea were even possible, and it’s incredibly humbling.”
What inspires you most?
“I’m inspired by everything from gazing at the moon to examining the range and depth of my emotions. I find that exploring our feelings can be a mesmerizing, bottomless well of inspiration.
I’m also inspired by my deep friendships, social injustices, academia, neurodivergency, and music. Embracing my fears around friendship and social perception also opens doors into authenticity, compassion, and love. It is through the fear, shame, and guilt that I learn how to be more meaningful for others, and myself.”
What themes do you pursue? Is there an underlying message in your work?
"I pursue playfulness, curiosity, and creation — all the opportunities my small human was not granted growing up. I’m giving them the space to use their voice and affirming their wisdom. I use the name Unsupervised Arts Crafts because the absence of supervision is also the absence of doubt. Instead, I allow myself to feel a liberating sense of unhinged chaos.
The underlying message for myself and others is that life is messy, but we have the power to communicate differently and be the change we want and deserve in the world. I know I’m not the only one with a complicated childhood, but that doesn’t mean I have to live out the others’ perceptions of me and my abilities. Nor does anyone else. You deserve love, play, laughter, joy, and excitement. Don’t abandon yourself. You deserve everything.”
How would you describe your work?
“In the service industry, the term ‘cowboy cooking’ refers to stereotypical reckless folks who use whatever is around them to do their job. I resonate with this term and feel like the art I create is very ‘cowboy’ style. I’m all about the ability to adapt, re-define, and establish new routines with unexpected things.
My work is utterly and unavoidably queer, not just because I’m thriving in my bisexuality but because it’s rooted in resistance against generalized norms for how and why we’re supposed to live our lives. Being queer and disabled means that I process, understand, and communicate in an ‘abnormal’ and ‘disordered’ manner, as our current sociopolitical hellscape makes us think that communicating feelings with our friends can only be done verbally.
Jan Fook, among many others, unabashedly questions how and why we know things. What are the hidden assumptions that seep into our facial expressions when we find out that our friend learnt something from YouTube? I’m currently creating a different way to produce knowledge centered on embodied experiences, critical self-reflection, and reflexive processes through artistic expressions. This form of power, knowledge, and discourse is not accredited as reputable because it’s not something I learnt in school.”
“I question everything systematically, so it feels natural that my art creations would question and challenge the preconceived notions of respectability — how we’re supposed to use ‘things’, talk about ‘things’, and feel ‘things’.
Things aren’t what they seem, so why pretend like they are?”
Which artists influence you most?
“I’m not really sure which artists influence me the most. The ideas, concepts, and topics I mull over the most come from class discussions, conversations with professors, books, friends and more.
Beyond artists, a big influence right now is my Rider-Waite tarot and Moonology Oracle Deck by Yasmin Boland.
What is your creative process like?
“My creative process is focused on letting myself back into myself, making space for excitement and curiousity about the found items I stumble upon.
Another part of the process is acknowledging my feelings. When I find myself distracted or overthinking about something I can’t control, I instinctively go to my art table, take a few moments to be present with whatever feelings and bodily sensations arise, and then let my hands guide me. I spent many years neglecting myself, so now a key part of my process is to honor my needs fully, accepting that different days have different spoons.”
What is an artist’s role in society and how do you see that evolving?
“The artist’s role in society is to be the light for massive social reform. The artist is the light that does not let us forget that there’s so much to explore, feel, love, and be a part of.
Artists are powerful and brave, and art is vulnerable in ways we sometimes only let our partners see. I’m beside myself in disbelief that I can coexist with unflinchingly potent artists sharing their realities, talents, skills, and journeys. What an incredible time to be alive, for I can participate in such raw beauty.
Ultimately, anyone who creates is an artist. Art is a perpetual act of learning, growing, and creating with an intent to be meaningful.”
Instagram: @unsupervised_arts_crafts/
