Ane Graff / Ayesha Hameed / Alma Heikkilä and Maike Hemmers
 

On Friday, May 5, 2022, Kunstinstituut Melly in Rotterdam will inaugurate exhibitions featuring works by Norwegian artist Ane Graff and London-based artist Ayesha Hameed. These are the artists’ first solo exhibitions in The Netherlands. It also celebrates the inclusion of two newly commissioned works in its ongoing initiative 84 STEPS: one by Rotterdam-based artist Maike Hemmers and another by Finnish artist Alma Heikkilä.

Ane Graff: The Wound in Its Entanglements
In her materially lush artworks, Norwegian artist Ane Graff explores how ideas of human exceptionalism relate to the health and ecological disasters we face today. She explores these relations through the use of ingredients that have, in one way or another, been linked to the chronic diseases of our times, from organic matter and bacterial pigments, to bodily fluids and antidepressant medication. More recently, Graff has centered her artistic research on the environmental and behavioral factors influencing mental states. Approaching her sculptures as bodies in themselves, each comes to be transformed over time by the mixing of narratives both materially and conceptually. The exhibition will include existing and newly commissioned artworks and is curated by Rosa de Graaf. 

Ayesha Hameed: Brown Atlantis 
Over the past decade, London-based artist Ayesha Hameed has created artworks and installations that explore the visual culture of the “Black Atlantic.” Namely, the fusion of Black cultures with other cultures from around the Atlantic. More recently, the artist has begun developing a new body of work, Brown Atlantis, which, turning her attention to the Indian Ocean, explores the correlations between Black and Brown bodies through their shared experience of oceanic colonial routes. Hameed is interested in tracing these marginalized histories into the present, drawing parallels with contemporary borders and migration. She does so through her creation of artworks, which, ranging from videos and performance lectures, to textile installations and radio episodes, locate these histories underwater. The exhibition will include existing and newly commissioned artworks and is curated by Rosa de Graaf 

Alma Heikkilä and Maike Hemmers in 84 STEPS
Launched in 2021, and staged on the entire top floor of Kunstinstituut Melly, 84 STEPS features projects developed at the intersection of art and education. It brings together art installations exploring the politics of care, and most especially histories and practices pertaining to mental health. In May 2022, newly created art installations by Alma Heikkilä and Maike Hemmers will be incorporated into 84 STEPS. Heikkilä’s work, semipermeable & sensitive, consists of a monumental painting that includes live specimens transforming the work overtime. Hemmers' installation, This Deep Becomes Palpable, will include large-scale yet fragile pastel drawings and soft sculptures.

Biographies and images
A press pack with biographies for all participating artists can be downloaded here. For press requests or for further information, please contact Jeroen Lavèn via press [​at​] kunstinstituutmelly.nl.

About
Kunstinstituut Melly is the new name of the institution formerly known as Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art. Conceived as an art-house in Rotterdam, our mission is to present and discuss the work created by visual artists from here and afar.

Kunstinstituut Melly is supported by the city of Rotterdam and the Ministry of Education, Culture, and Science. Ayesha Hameed's solo exhibitions is supported by Ammodo, and Ane Graff's solo exhibition is supported by Ammodo and Office for Contemporary Art Norway. The new commission by Maike Hemmers is supported by Mondriaan Fund and ifa (Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen, Alma Heikkilä's commission is supported by Frame Finland. We thank them for that!