BIO
Mel Ramaker is a multi-media artist, born and raised in Pennsylvania. She now lives and works in Chicago IL. Mel is interested in the intersection between horror and perfection, particularly as it relates to her experience as a woman who grew up in an oppressive christian community. Currently she is studying at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and will receive her MFA in Fiber and Material Studies in May, 2024.
STATEMENT
I am interested in the concept of perfection, especially since I grew up in a strict conservative community. Perfection was thrust upon me since birth, and that idea of being the perfect girl - woman - wife, consumed my entire existence until I was able to leave.
Perfection is beauty on the surface, yet horror and turmoil underneath. I am particularly enamored by the ways that beauty and revulsion intersect. I want to create work that is technically perfect and beautifully pleasing. But once the viewer looks for a moment more - there is something else crawling under the surface. A nameless, faceless fear, lurking close behind that shell of elegance.
I seek to create a world that can inspire and disquiet; as well as dive deeper into the powerful presence of a woman untethered from other people’s ideologies.