Melania Toma (b. 1996, Padova, Italy) is an Italian multi-disciplinary artist living and working in London. At the center of her practice lies the exploration of opposites, and how they can be broken down and merged to depict a new world of interconnectivity that challenges our age of the Anthropocene.
Within these intersectional analyses, Toma’s work stitches personal narratives and myths into a wider transformative dimension – one that is possible with or without the presence of humans. Her practice incorporates its own language of symbols and forms, comprising elements - both new and atavistic, prehistoric and cellular, growing and decomposing - expressed through sculpture, textile and painting. Fertility symbols, birds, fish and flowers form the backbone of this shape vocabulary.
Toma’s works are fundamentally organic. Her paintings appear to transform into newfound alien creatures, pulsating with a hermaphroditic fertility featuring the movement of organs and bones in a synchronous dance. These hybrid presences emerge from the interaction of different discarded organic and inorganic elements. Their interconnectivity and their power stand in opposition to human-centered perspectives, specifically historical webs of gender, power hierarchies and ecological degradation.
Toma’s imagery dissolves boundaries between bodies and looks toward new relationships with ‘other-than-human’ domains of existence, embracing more collective and interspecies points of view that do not privilege humans over non-humans. Toma’s painting process collides dualities: large quick marks coexist with slender slow line drawings; thin layers of paint feature alongside coagulations of thick sand; the softness and sensuality of threads juxtaposes with the vibrant intensity of colour against raw canvas; and overpopulated planes of the canvas coexist with silent areas of negative space.
In her most recent works, the presence of bacteria, fungi and various microscopic elements allows Toma to merge the familiar with the unfamiliar, the ambiguous and the ugly. These works tap into the possibilities of the transformative power offered by shapes and motifs constantly in transition, between growth and decomposition.
Solo Exhibitions include Five Hearts, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, Wandsworth, London, UK (2024); As Soon as the Sun Sets, Daniel Benjamin Gallery, London, UK (2023); Cabin UTROBA, Sarieva Gallery, Plovdiv, Bulgaria (2022).
Group exhibitions include ‘Re-Rooted: The Quiet Politics of Plants’, Cooke Latham Gallery, London UK (2024); Loose Ends, Side-Thames Studios London, UK (2024); Embodied selfhood, Pictorum gallery, London, uk (2024); In Rapture, the Bombfactory Art Foundation, London, UK (2024); Studio Responses IV, Saatchi Gallery London, UK (2023); Art Miami, Context, Miami, USA (2023); Sistema Tempo, MO.CA: Centro Per Le Nuove Culture, Brescia, IT (2023); MATTER, Flowers Gallery, London UK (2023); Soft Monuments, Frestonian Gallery, London, UK (2023); 2 for 1: A dialogue with the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals, Thorp Stavri, HAZE, Hypha Studios, London, UK (2023); London Design Biennale, Italian Pavilion with Triennale Milano, Somerset House, London, UK (2023); Dopo il fuoco, sotto la cenere, Condotto48, Roma, IT (2023); From the Rattle, FOLD Gallery, London, UK (2023); In the Garden, San Mei Gallery, London, UK (2022); Ingram Prize, UNIT 1 Gallery, London, UK (2022); Pigeon Park II, Pigeon Park Project, Manor Place, London, UK (2022); 17th International Triennial of Tapestry of Poland, Centralne Muzeum (2022); Wlòkiennictwa, Lodz (2022); Nocturnal Creatures, for White Chapel Gallery and SZN: Summer, SEASON, London, UK (2022); Daughters of Pacha, Roksanda Ilcic, London, UK (2022); The Dinner Table, San Mei Gallery, London, UK (2021); Postcards from Isolation, Archeological U, All Visual Arts, London, UK (2021); Unknown Observers, Sotheby’s Institute of Arts, The Cookhouse London, UK (2021); Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts, London UK (2021); Venice meets Linz, Edition Doppelpunkt, The Contraband Collection, Linz, AT (2021); THERIACA, The Contraband Collection Venice Edition, Metaforte, Venice, IT (2021); STAYING WITH THE TROUBLE, l’etranger and Desmond & Austin Fine Arts, London, UK (2021); DEEP CUT, Asylum Chapel, Peckham, London, UK (2021); CLAY TM, TJ Boulting, London, UK (2020).
Highlights and residencies include (Upcoming) Thread Residency, The Joseph and Anni Albers Foundation, Senegal, GIRLPOWER Residency, France (2024); Casa Wabi, Artist in residence, Bosco Sodi Foundation, Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca, Mexico (2023).
