Melania Toma (b. 1996, Padua, Italy) is a multidisciplinary artist based in London whose research explores the dissolution of opposites to imagine new forms of interconnection beyond anthropocentric perspectives. Her practice combines personal myths with symbols of fertility, birds, fish, and flowers, creating a distinctive visual language expressed through sculpture, textiles, and painting. Organic and atavistic elements, constantly growing or decomposing, merge in her works, reflecting an ongoing dialogue between life and transformation.
Toma’s paintings embody a hybrid vitality, blending bold painterly gestures with fine lines, raw materials with vibrant colors, and densely populated surfaces with empty spaces. Her most recent works incorporate bacteria, fungi, and microscopic elements to dissolve boundaries between bodies and suggest new relationships with “other-than-human” entities. These shifting forms challenge traditional hierarchies and evoke a transformative vision of coexistence and regeneration.
CV
Solo Shows
2024
- Five Hearts, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, Wandsworth, London, UK
2023
- As Soon as the Sun Sets, Daniel Benjamin Gallery, London, UK
2022
- Cabin UTROBA, Sarieva Gallery, Plovdiv, Bulgaria
Group Shows
2024
- Body Mould, GUTS Gallery
- Unreal City, Abstract Painting in London Now, Saatchi Gallery
- Re-Rooted: The Quiet Politics of Plants, Cooke Latham Gallery, London, UK
- Loose Ends, Side-Thames Studios, London, UK
- Embodied Selfhood, Pictorum Gallery, London, UK
- In Rapture, The Bombfactory Art Foundation, London, UK
2023
- Studio Responses IV, Saatchi Gallery, London, UK
- Art Miami, Context, Miami, USA
- Sistema Tempo, MO.CA: Centro Per Le Nuove Culture, Brescia, IT
- MATTER, Flowers Gallery, London, UK
- Soft Monuments, Frestonian Gallery, London, UK
- London Design Biennale, Italian Pavilion with Triennale Milano, Somerset House, London, UK
- Dopo il fuoco, sotto la cenere, Condotto48, Rome, IT
- From the Rattle, FOLD Gallery, London, UK
2022
- In the Garden, San Mei Gallery, London, UK
- Ingram Prize, UNIT 1 Gallery, London, UK
- Pigeon Park II, Pigeon Park Project, Manor Place, London, UK
- 17th International Triennial of Tapestry of Poland, Centralne Muzeum Włókiennictwa, Łódź, Poland
- Nocturnal Creatures, for Whitechapel Gallery and SZN: Summer, SEASON, London, UK
- Daughters of Pacha, Roksanda Ilincic, London, UK
2021
- The Dinner Table, San Mei Gallery, London, UK
- Unknown Observers, Sotheby’s Institute of Arts, The Cookhouse, London, UK
- Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK
- Venice Meets Linz, Edition Doppelpunkt, The Contraband Collection, Linz, AT
- THERIACA, The Contraband Collection Venice Edition, Metaforte, Venice, IT
- Deep Cut, Asylum Chapel, Peckham, London, UK
2020
- CLAY TM, TJ Boulting, London, UK
Residencies
2024
- Thread Residency, The Joseph and Anni Albers Foundation, Senegal
- GIRLPOWER Residency, France
2023
- Casa Wabi, Artist in Residence, Bosco Sodi Foundation, Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca, Mexico
