Melissa Kenihan
Whether it’s a landscape, still life or portrait, Melissa’s work is grounded in connection, experience and memory. It evokes time and place, and a feeling of reluctance to look away from a moment that teases an intriguing backstory. There is depth to her imagery that hints at hidden elements and story threads, somewhere beyond the trademark of realism and expressive detail.
BIOGRAPHY
Melissa Kenihan is a Melbourne based artist. Although only devoting herself to her art full time in 2017, Melissa is a lifelong artist and storyteller. A childhood filled with drawing and painting gave way to a 20-year career “painting with sound” as an award-winning audio engineer and sound designer for film and TV. Melissa is keenly interested in her evolution as an artist, however, she resists pursuit of any one genre. Instead, she remains open to possibility and content to allow every piece to find her. It’s an approach based on keeping an open mind, being confident of her intuition and painting only when she feels strong, personal connection to her work.
Melissa was a semi-finalist in the Doug Moran National Portrait Prize 2019, a finalist in The Glover Prize 2021 and a shortlisted finalist in the SBS Landscape Prize in 2021.