The artistic practice of Melissa Van Havere revolves around animals. Through her work, she seeks to question the current relationship and dynamics between human and non-human animals.

Van Havere is a mixed media artist who creates paintings, installations, performances, and sculptures. Her work can be recognized by the bright colors and a playful, naïve style. She primarily works with oil paint on canvas, ceramics, plaster, and papier-mâché. Van Havere’s practice is driven by her strong commitment to justice and her research on animal ethics and rights. She will delve deeper into this research during her six-month residency at GlogauAIR.

The goal of her work is to encourage reflection on our relationship with the animals with whom we share our planet. She hopes to raise awareness about the absurd and ‘inhuman’ way we treat them. By approaching these themes in a lighthearted manner, she aims to plant a seed of empathy, one that inspires change from within.

Van Havere uses her art to depict animals as beings with agency and emotions, just like us. During the first part of her residency, she has mainly focused on pigs. Van Havere has created masks to perform with, to embody and ‘become’ the pig; this has resulted in photographs and a video, which she will show at open studios alongside her paintings.