Melissa Pareja is a multi-disciplinary contemporary artist whose practice is heavily influenced by her surroundings, specifically the urban environment and its established relationships with nature. Raised in Las Vegas, Nevada, by immigrant parents, she moved to Colombia in 2011 to study Fine Arts at La Universidad de Antioquia in Medellín. After completing her Master’s in Fine, Electronic, and Time Arts at La Universidad de los Andes, she moved back to New York and continues to work there.
Her art has been featured in several solo exhibitions, the most recent of which, “Resonancias del Río” (2019) at the Neebex Gallery in Bogotá, was also featured at ARTBO FDS. Her large-scale video sculpture Oda al Río (2018), most recently exhibited at the Water Museum in Medellín, Colombia, received the Creative Grant for Emerging Artists awarded by the city of Medellín. In addition, Pareja has participated in several group exhibitions and fairs, including “Arrugas Gravitacionales” at Montenegro Art Projects (2022), “Voltaje: Feria de Arte y Tecnología” in Bogotá (2021), “Experimental Film and Video” at the CICA Museum in South Korea (2020), “II Muestra de Video Arte Faenza” in Cuba (2019), and “De per se nación” in El Salvador (2019).