Melanie Kitti
Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Lumps, lumps, lumps become bumps on my tongue, installation view. O – Overgaden, 2023. Photo: David Stjernholm / @david_stjernholm
Melanie Kitti is an artist and author, educated at the Academy of Creative Writing in Copenhagen (2021) and the Royal Danish Art Academy in Copenhagen (2017–18) and the Academy of Fine Arts in Oslo (2013–19). Her critically acclaimed debut book Halvt urne, halvt gral was published by Gyldendal in 2022. In 2021, she co-founded Abhivyakti, a non-profit magazine with only BIPOC contributors, and previously she co-organized the exhibition space Destiny’s in Oslo (2016–22). Kitti’s works have been shown in solo and group exhibitions in venues including Rønnebæksholm, Næstved (2022–23), Nasjonalmuseet, Oslo (2022), and ARIEL, Copenhagen (2022).
Melanie Kitti’s writing and visual arts practice stems from a place of disruption, fragmentation, and discontinuity. Her acclaimed literary debut, Halvt urne, halvt gral (Half Urn, Half Grail, Gyldendal, 2022), collects succinct and fleeting notes on a family—and consequently a mental state—about to dissolve. Her painterly practice employs DIY fresco techniques on bulks created from, for instance, plaster. Using materials impossible to preserve, she creates a frailty always at risk of imploding.
View from the exhibition Kippar efter vinden (ledsen och klumpig), Rønnebæksholm, 2022. Photo: Malle Madsen