Mēlani N. Douglass

Mēlani N. Douglass (she/her) is a healer, conceptual artist, and curator and is the founder of the award-winning Family Arts Museum—a migratory institution focused on the celebration of family as fine art, home as curated space, and community as gallery. Inspired by the birth of her daughter, Mēlani started her own museum, reimagining family as her fine art and motherhood as her studio practice. This shift in her work expanded the visual narrative she captured on film and refined her innovative approach to community engagement, audience development, and exhibition design. Mēlani’s art and life practice is rooted in rituals of healing informed by ancestral technology and communal connections. Mēlani was recently named East of the River Artist-in-Residence and a Roots to Sky Fellow as a part of the Humanities in Place initiative of the Mellon Foundation. Her work has been highlighted by The New York Times, Atlas Obscura, Shondaland, BmoreArt, American Museum Alliance Magazine, Baltimore Magazine, Artnet, and National Geographic. Mēlani is a member of Valley Place Arts Collaborative in Anacostia, DC where she currently resides.

Photo & Bio courtesy of the artist.