Melanie Roza is a photographer and bookmaker whose work concerns itself with the entanglement of death and decay in the natural world and human experiences of grief. Through their work, the artist unpacks their own grief, using their body to build a deeper understanding of themself and the worlds they navigate. For Roza, photography functions as an embalming process, freezing memories and emotions in time; offering empowerment, renewed autonomy, and refuge when their body and home feel unfamiliar.
Dolorous is a photographic series that explores the impact sexual harassment and assault have on the perception of one’s body and conceptualizations of death and decay in the natural world. Dolorous explores the artist’s grief stemming from sexual trauma, each page acting as a preservation of the healing process and what it takes for a survivor to take ownership back over their own body.
