Maya Melrose is an artist and visual storyteller based in Naarm/Melbourne. She captures the quiet dialogue that unfolds in every environment, between people, between people and nature, and within the spaces they share.
Maya presents and exhibits her work through talks, community workshops and public events, sharing both the process and the stories behind her images. Her practice blends ecological record-keeping with a distinctive creative lens, documenting places such as the Stonnington wetlands and her ongoing project Lost Lands Found as long-term records and as powerful tools for raising awareness about the fragility of Victoria’s Indigenous flowering grasslands.
She is passionate about creating exhibitions and projects that can be experienced interactively, inviting viewers to engage with the work so that both audience and artwork shape the encounter. Through this approach, and through mentoring others to see and feel the beauty she experiences in nature, Maya fosters a deeper appreciation and Care for Country.
Maya acknowledges and pays her respects to the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung and Bunurong peoples, the Traditional Custodians of the lands where she lives, learns and works. She recognises her positionality as a Settler-Australian of English, Irish and Scottish heritage and approaches her work documenting Kulin Country with this awareness and responsibility.
