Artist Melanie Baker will attend a residency at the Sacatar Foundation, located on the island of Itaparica, Brazil. To celebrate Sacatar's twentieth anniversary, the organization has invited impactful fellows from its early years to complete another residency.
When asked about her first residence at Sacatar and her intentions for her upcoming fellowship, she said, "I arrived at Sacatar the first time making big charcoal drawings of politicians. I became fascinated with the sacred trees, and the spiritual forces that seemed to seep up from the ground. For me this manifested in color returning to my work, underneath all the darkness of the nasty men.
My focus is still on power and empire, but climate anxiety has overtaken my work. A current series of drawings feature chaotic feast tables with birds, who are both witness and victims of our climate emergency. I intend to bring the birds, salamanders, insects and glorious vegetation of Itaparica into the work during my stay."
