ABOUT

MELANIE GORDON

I make art about wonder and human tenderness. I make art to create connections. Actually, we create these connections together, because making art is always a collaboration. In photographs, films, and installations I explore what “us” means, how strong voices can come from quiet, and how we make each other.

My photographs tell stories of flower archers, flying dresses, and swimming butterflies—quiet revolutions, where imagination meets the senses, the ephemeral meets the eternal, and I meet you. My films are experimental collaborations with dancers, responding to dominant cultural narratives about women’s roles. My installations invite you to share your voice, your vulnerability, your shape with others to feel less alone. If we can let ourselves be seen in all of our messy imperfection, we can stop playing roles someone else made for us. We can find wonder, connection, gratitude, and the simple astonishment of living in our bodies in this world, with each other.

I’ve been exploring humanness for 30 years—from my anthropology degree to my work as a portrait and documentary photographer, and in my art practice, photographing my own motherhood experience as I healed from breast cancer. Reckoning with my own quiet voice in a loud, male dominated world informs my work, particularly my current project BLUSH, which is about girlhood and voice and how girls relate to agency, power, and freedom.

My work has been supported by the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, and the Laidlaw Foundation. My photographs have been exhibited in Canada and internationally, and commissioned by leaders who are committed to building peace and improving children’s wellbeing. Four books have been published of my portraits. I live in Toronto with my husband and two daughters.

To explore my photo session offerings, visit melaniegordon.com.