“I’ve always been inspired by the women in my life. I see female friendship and female togetherness as something unique... It's very difficult to explain and that's why I try to photograph it.” Photographer Melissa Schriek’s artistic direction is primarily focused on exploring how people, and specifically women, relate to their environment, themselves and other people. She remains steadfast in her dedication to portraying the complexities of female experience. In her own words, "I still photograph mostly women for my own work. It still holds so much interest for me.”

Melissa traces back her fascination with photography to a primary school field trip where her father had given her a disposable camera. She spent the day focused on composing her photos, directing her classmates in front of carefully selected backgrounds. Noticing her interest, her father then gave Melissa a small point-and-shoot digital camera to encourage her to continue photographing her life. For most of her school years, photography “was more of a way of making memories than making art.” The act of taking photographs was more important than the actual end-product at that time.

Entering the Royal Academy of Art The Hague marked a turning point in Melissa’s approach. Instead of strictly portraying reality, she became interested in discovering a world between truth and fiction. She began intensely exploring the relationship between the sculptural nature of bodies and their environment. Melissa drew from her body awareness that she developed in past dance and gymnastics classes to reframe her perspective on movement and form. In her graduation project, she draped bodies in different poses around the city to examine how bodies relate to their spaces.

From there on out, Melissa concentrated on the performative staging of her models in mainly the public space, choosing to work with people who want to actively explore the boundaries of bodies and their ability to communicate through gestures. Despite the dreamy, surreal quality of her work, she maintains that the core of her work are human stories and photographs must still look like a scenario that could happen.

Melissa's latest series, shot in Japan, also reflects her fascination with the expressive potential of the female form. Capturing moments of liberation and empowerment, she challenges cultural norms and perceptions. By giving women a platform in front of her camera, Melissa fosters a sense of agency and self-expression in public spaces. Typically, Melissa juggles multiple projects and intuitively drops projects that become uninteresting or best suited for another time. Her residency at Hama Gallery allowed her to explore the fusion of photography and painting, adding layers of texture and meaning to her images. "Painting over my images became very interesting. I can really try to understand the images again and tell the story."

A lot of Melissa’s inspiration comes from daily life; how people walk, dress, move and interact with each other. “Very mundane objects I can find interesting and hyperfocus on.” Melissa’s work invites viewers to question boundaries between photography and painting and the subjective nature of perception, prompting a reconsideration of the significance of the seemingly ordinary.