Melina Merlin (b. San Francisco, California) is a London-based artist whose expanded drawing practice challenges dominant narratives and reclaims erased histories. After a foundation year at Camberwell, they began their BA Fine Art at Goldsmiths, University of London in 2021, where they were awarded both the Leonhilde Bulgari Art Award and The Warden’s Climate Award.
Working at the intersection of drawing, sculpture, and social justice, Melina uses their practice to disrupt inherited power structures and offer alternative ways of seeing. Their work reframes contemporary art through a diasporic lens—rooted in lived experience, feminist critique, and Indigenous thought.
Melina’s assemblage drawings weave together memory, material, and myth. Sculptural forms often initiate the drawing process—whether through found objects, clay, or hand-built maquettes—transforming personal and collective histories into tactile propositions. Beyond the studio, their research unfolds through fieldwork, reading, and active participation in artist collectives and exhibitions, with a focus on the Mexican diaspora and its cultural continuities.
selected exhibitions
2025
Transmission Residency: Toronto, Canada & Millbank, London
I, Present, Women in the Arts 3.0, Embassy of Mexico, London
2024
Goldsmiths, Degree Show 2024, London
Superhuman Expedition, Group Show, Art Hub Studios, London
2023
The Soil Beneath My Feet, Solo Exhibition, Fazenda UK, London
A Space for Change, Meta Space Gallery, online/virtual exhibition
Doll, The House of Smalls, Chipping Campden, UK
The Fox and the Girl, Navigator North, Middlesbrough, UK
The NewEver Art Show, Phoenix Project Space, Brighton, UK
The Power of Colour, Wolverhampton Art Gallery, Wolverhampton, UK
Drawing Open 2023–No Format Gallery, London, UK
Las Mujeres–North South, St James Annex, London, UK
awards and residencies
- The Worshipful Company of Dyers Scholarship, 2024
- Equity Scholar, 2021-2024
- Warden’s Climate Award, 2022
- Bulgari Art Award, 2022
- Gold Award, 2022
speaking panelist
Monuments At Risk: Destruction, Preservation and Reinvention, City and Guilds of London Art School, March 2025
Bring Biodiversity Home, Newham Citizens’ Science Fair, London. 2024
Navigating Colour in today’s educational institutions. Wolverhampton Art School, Wolverhampton, UK. 2023
Where’s the Money Come From? Goldsmiths, University of London. 2021
selected publications
Regeneration Songs: Sounds of Investment and Loss from East London. Soundscape.
education
- MA Fine Art, City and Guilds of London Art School, 2024-2025
- First Class BA (Hons), Fine Art, Goldsmiths, UoL, 2024
- Foundation, Fine Art (Merit), Camberwell, UAL, 2021
- Juris Doctor, Golden Gate University, SofL, CA, USA, 2001
- BSc, Portland State University, Portland, OR, USA, 1997
contact: melinamerlin@protonmail.com