Berman lives and works in rural East Sussex, where the forest serves not just as a backdrop, but as an active collaborator in her practice. Her latest paintings and sculptural wooden works emerge from a deep, intuitive engagement with the natural world—drawing on a symbolic visual language that seeks to reconnect us with our inner landscapes and the often-overlooked rhythms of the earth.
Her process is shaped by a hunter-gatherer sensibility: walking, observing, collecting. Foliage, found materials, and transient patterns become both tools and records—part of a ritual that allows her to merge with the forest, rather than merely depict it. This sensitivity to environment extends beyond the woods, shaping how she perceives and reflects on different societal spaces, particularly the contrast between fast-paced modern life and the slow, silent, often wordless language of the natural world.
Her wooden pieces blend abstraction and raw materiality creating a dynamic exchange between real or imagined worlds of which are recorded too becomes a kind of palimpsest: holding memory, time, and transformation. These shapes or fragments are embedded or loosely arranged, echoing indigenous knowledge systems, spiritual traditions, and cycles of growth and decay. Each element is chosen for its surface values, presence, and its capacity to endure—as if it remembers something we have forgotten.
Her painted canvases unfold like intuitive maps. Fluid, symbolic forms drift across the surface with aerial lightness, evoking dream states, migratory routes, and sacred geometries. Earth-toned palettes anchor brighter, more vivid shapes—allowing them to emerge as sources of energy or nourishment within the composition. Each figure interacts in tension or harmony with the others, proposing both internal and collective journeys. These are works that hold emotional resonance: navigating the complexities of contemporary life while offering glimpses of stillness, clarity, and the power of connections.
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Melanie Berman: Biography
Melanie Berman (b. Surrey, UK) lives and works in East Sussex. She graduated from the University for the Creative Arts with a BA in Painting (2008), and from Berkshire College of Art (1980) with a BA in Fashion Design. Her work is in private collections in the USA Canada France Portugal and Australia. She has been awarded various commissions including SMC Design, London. Most recently she exhibited at the - Royal Academy London Summer Exhibition (2019, 2021, 2022, 2024) - Royal Scottish Academy (2020, 2021, 2022, 2024, 2025 ) Her work also featured in the Royal Academy Calendar 2021. She exhibited at Wells Art Contemporary Exhibition 2021, Lido Open 2021, Beep Painting Biennial Wales in 2022 and the Bankley Open Exhibition in 2022. Barclays Bank residency 2021-22 RHA selected 2023 The Ballinglen Art Foundation Biennial County Mayo Ireland 2023/24 The ING Discerning Eye Exhibition Mall Gallery 2023 Jacksons Art Prize : Judges Choice Huge Barclay Award 2024, Amelia Museum and Gallery Tunbridge Wells 2025 San Francisco Art Fair 2025