An artist of colour exploring ways to express her views and feelings finally found her voice. Melanie Royster (Melroy) is a young emerging bold artist in Maryland, USA.
When I first spoke to Melanie, I was just inspired by how driven she is to narrate stories from women of colour. Her courageous experiments with various mediums and forms are what define her as an artist and that is exactly what attracted Artiste Culture to her. She is committed to helping women share their experiences and stories through her art.
How did you start painting?
I’ve been interested in art since I was able to pick up a pencil. I started off with drawing probably around the age of 4 and picked up painting in elementary school.
What are the stories you narrate through your art?
I tell many stories but I tend to tell stories through the lens of women and people of color.
I like to show the great qualities of being a woman. We can be soft, nurturing, caring, submissive but also bold, vibrant, captivating, and strong. Women bring life to this world; it’s extremely easy for me to celebrate them in my work. I want my stories to also highlight topics that usually get ignored when it comes to minorities. Black woman, I feel like we are always calling out and no one wants to hear us. I’ve been pretty quiet for the majority of my life and now I can no longer stay quiet. I have so much to say.
I love how fearless you are, it reflects in the diversity of your works and mediums. Do you love experimenting and exploring?
I absolutely do! From when I was very young I was exposed to different cultures, people, activities, etc. So I grew up never really putting myself in a box I was into sports, art, and music. So I think that diversity is very much reflected in my work. I know when people see my work you see a lot of different styles and mediums, which for a long time I was afraid to share my work because I thought it would be confusing. But in reality, it gives me the advantage to have my artwork speak to different types of people. I think there is a true beauty in being multifaceted and I believe the people who love my work see the beauty in that as well.
Your works have strong representations of women. Please talk us through it.
In a lot of my work I have strong representations of women because I really want women, in general, to feel celebrated and confidant. Throughout my life, I’ve had amazing women to look up to and they honestly influence a lot of the energy in my work. When it comes to the actual layouts and concepts – I usually find creative ways to play with the curves, texture, colors in both nature and the female figure. Nature will ground you, and in my opinion, a woman who is grounded is a strong woman.
We are now proud to represent her and help her achieve her vision of using visual art as a tool to share stories of inspiration from women around the globe. To view her works, write to us at sunaina@artisteculture.com