Local artist sparks global conversation on women’s rights
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How do you balance both being an artist and an advocate? For multi-disciplinary award-winning artist Melissa Hammond, it’s not about finding a balance, it’s about embracing the power of using them together.
That’s why she’s using their impact to reach more people and spark important conversations that echo across oceans, from her recent success at London’s prestigious Royal Academy of Arts to her upcoming projects documenting Tasmania’s old-growth forests.
Despite always being drawn to the arts, Melissa never imagined pursuing them as a career. Instead, she was living what she describes as the “tick-a-box lifestyle” as a mathematician and economist, moving to Canberra in 2010 to work in the public service.
Feeling restless and unfulfilled, it wasn’t until she took a year off from work to study and travel around France that she realised she could follow her dream and work as an artist full-time. It was a transformative time – but before she could fully embrace her artistic calling, her life was turned upside down.
“Art was pouring out of me. On the back of my French homework, I would be drawing and drawing. The artist within wasn’t going to wait for me anymore,” she says.
“When I got home, I knew what I needed to do, but sadly I was then involved in a car accident that changed the direction of my life forever. Art then did something amazing – it saved me.”
Photography: Sunny Rae Kelle
Advocacy through art
Giving Melissa the outlet she needed to express the emotion and physical pain she continues to experience from her accident; art became her lifeline.
It was also the platform that allowed her to begin her advocacy work.
Living with chronic pain and chronic fatigue, she says that she discovered the power of using the mixed media of oil pastel, digital photography and writing to communicate ideas, injustices, and to “shed a light on what you cannot see.”
Exploring topics including disabilities, chronic pain, and invisible illness, she says that she has always been motivated to help others, but it wasn’t until her car accident that it became personal.
“I recently threw away a lot of my artwork and school notes as a kid, and even then, I was drawing trees and saying we need to save them,” she explains.
“My first piece of art that I exhibited was on climate change. It was called ‘Signs of Life’ and it was after the horrific bushfires of 2019 and 2020. It was a portrait of friend and award-winning Canberran poet Penelope Layland. I drew her with charcoal from the Namadgi fires and in tree lines intertwined with lines of poetry from her book.”
‘Signs of Life’ by Melissa Hammond
Sharing stories and lived experiences as well as using her artwork as a platform for education, it was on a trip to London after her residency in France that she discovered the biggest annual art event in the United Kingdom – the Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition.
Founded by King George III in 1768, since 1769 The Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition has taken place every year without interruption.
Dreaming of having her work shown in the hallowed halls of The Royal Academy but never imagining that it could be a possibility, when learning of the 2025 theme of ‘Dialogues’, Melissa knew that she wanted to create something in response.
The world’s largest open submission contemporary art exhibition, it showcases a range of media – from painting and printmaking to photography, sculpture, architecture and film. From the 18,000 entries received worldwide for the 2025 exhibition, only 1,729 were selected to exhibit in the historical halls.
‘NOT AGAIN’ – an oil pastel drawing of a toppled pink chair on a background of orange – was one of them.
Melissa Hammond’s ‘NOT AGAIN’
Depicting the issue of women’s rights and safety, Melissa says that the artwork opens a conversation to ask, “Why in 2025 there is still a desire for societal control over women?”
“My artwork was born from my experience of being on the other side of the world when Trump came into power” she says. “Through my travels, I met a lot of Americans who were visibly distraught by the outcome; I saw women and members of the LGBTQI+ community afraid to go home because they didn’t feel like they would be safe.”
“As my time overseas continued, I watched in shock as more and more, the influence of Trump’s leadership started to spread around the globe and brought very strong, disturbing and sometimes violent views against women to the surface…I just thought, ‘Oh my God. We can’t be here again.’ I thought Australia would be safe from this but I watched from afar as the sea of orange reached our shores.”
At first glance, the overtly political messaging of ‘NOT AGAIN’ isn’t obvious. But from the choice of the colours to the simplicity of the depiction of the fallen chair, every element Melissa chose has a deeper meaning.
“The orange background is that sea of orange – the Trump influence – going global, and what I would call outdated views,” explains Melissa.
“I was working in the Louvre, and I was going through the garden, when I saw one of the chairs toppled over and I thought ‘That is exactly how I feel. I feel exhausted in fighting for this for so long…Are we really here again?’. And that really resonated.”
Chosen from thousands of entries, Melissa says having her work in The Royal Academy was an incredible experience. And as one of the many artworks in the exhibition that explore the societal concerns society faces, she says that she thinks its power is in its simplicity.
“Sometimes it’s easier to engage in a conversation if it’s not so direct. It’s that metaphor or personification of it.”
“The goal of exploring ‘Dialogues’ was to say that we can stand here and keep fighting about whose right, or we can start to have conversations to understand each other’s perspectives a bit more,” says Melissa.
Hear no evil. See no evil. Speak no evil. by Melissa Hammond.
“Art of any kind speaks volumes”
Also a finalist in the Doyles Art Award with an artwork shining a spotlight on the sunflower as the international symbol for invisible disabilities, Melissa is about to embark on a project in Tasmania for two months documenting the deforestation of old growth forests.
Currently planning her first solo exhibition – to be held in Canberra in autumn 2026 – she says that while much of her work focuses on disability and climate change, when the call came for ‘Dialogues’, she couldn’t deny her chance to talk about what was happening in the world for women.
Explaining that she has always been an advocate for gender equality and women’s rights, it was seeing that wave of global change that inspired her to get very vocal with ‘NOT AGAIN’ during a particularly politically charged time in history.
“When you start making a firm stance on something that not only divides the country, but the globe…it can be tough,” says Melissa.
“I feel like my work is more influential in the arts than it was being a public servant. When I joined the public service, it was because I wanted to make a difference on a number of fronts. I was doing that, and I was part of that machine, but I didn’t feel like it was going as fast as I wanted it to.”
“What do they say? ‘A picture is worth a thousand words?’ When you spend so much time on developing public policy, one image like ‘NOT AGAIN’ can resonate so much and so quickly with a lot of people.”
Photography: Sunny Rae Keller
This is where Melissa sees the power of embracing the combination of art and advocacy.
But when it comes to keeping her fire alive in a world that feels increasingly overwhelming, it’s knowing that she can make a difference – no matter how small – that keeps her going.
“I believe in the ripple effect. I really do. If you can influence one bit of change, then you can influence more, and I think that’s been egging me on,” she says.
“Art for me is a platform to reach and engage people with my advocacy work, but it can also be a place for joy and solace. I may not have found the balance yet, but it’s always deeply rewarding because art of any kind speaks volumes.”
Unsure when she will show ‘NOT AGAIN’ in Australia, Melissa will be doing a limited edition print run of the artwork.
To find out more about Melissa and her work, or to join the waitlist to get a limited edition signed copy of ‘NOT AGAIN’, visit melissahammondartiste.com.
