Haley Mellin’s ‘We Are Nature’ Show

Until October 29: HALEY MELLIN: SIAMO NATURA. Museo Novecento of 20th and 21st Century Art, piazza Santa Maria Novella 10. Open 11 am – 8 pm, closed Thursday. Admission: €9.50 for museum entry, exhibition included. Further concessions are available on the museum’s official website. 

Inside the former Ospedale di San Paolo, now the Museo Novecento, medieval frescoes mingle with Haley Mellin’s paintings of the tropics. Mellin is an American environmental activist and artist. Her work shows a deep reverence for the natural world, as she seeks to raise awareness about its importance in the face of the climate crisis. Florence may seem like an unusual destination for Mellin’s exhibition, however at the core of both Florence’s art scene and her work is the concept of preservation. Mellin fights for the conservation of forests and land to safeguard the history and culture of indigenous communities, similarly Florence seeks to protect its Renaissance history and culture against deterioration in the modern age.

Mellin’s exhibition at the Museo Novecento is her first solo museum show. Every inch of the display is a testament to Mellin’s creativity and her activism down to the frames of the paintings, which are sustainably sourced. “We Are Nature” demonstrates Mellin’s versatility, each room has a different focus, ranging from charcoal forests to green gouache. Some of the pieces have QR codes, if scanned they take the viewer to the location which served as the inspiration for the painting, further bringing to life the jungles and rainforests where she works. Mellin’s paintings combine the feelings and colours of impressionism, with the preciseness of realism, and the socio-political commentary of modernism. Her works are a window through which nature can exist in the manmade world.

Sustainability is at the heart of the exhibition and Mellin’s work. She primarily uses natural materials to paint, such as gouache, ink and/ or charcoal on canvas. These materials are more environmentally friendly than oil paints, reflecting how Mellin is first and foremost an environmental campaigner. Her art as an extension of this. This year Mellin was presented with the “Hummingbird of Honour” award from President Elena Stoppioni of Save the Planet, acknowledging her contributions to environmentalism.

Mellin’s activism is expressed in her nonprofit organisation Art into Acres. This is an important part of the exhibition, with a video of Mellin explaining the organisation’s achievements and aims. Art into Acres has protected over 30 million hectares of primary forests through partnerships with indigenous and local communities. The organisation specialises in conserving intact forest landscapes to support biodiversity reproduction. Art plays an important role in the non-for-profit as it is sponsored through donors and art fundraisers. Mellin is highly involved in the on-site forest restoration work that Art into Acres champions. The locations she volunteers in -frequently tropical rainforests- inspires her art. Mellin’s advocacy is at the forefront of her artistic works, representing how nature will outlive man, as the creations will outlive the artist.

The Museo Novecento is at the heart of an extraordinary encounter between contemporary art, environmental activism and nature in the Haley Mellin: Siamo Natura exhibition. The artist may be a fleeting figure, but the exhibition shows that the ancient connection between nature and art will last if we protect the planet.

(Mikela Persson Caracciolo)