Diomita Maurer’s Blog

I visited the exhibition “Wandering and Watching” by Melusina Parkin at room “Amona” at DixMix Gallery. Although I had seen just two exhibitions of Melusina so far, her style is easily recognisable. Minimalistic pictures focusing on one or two details. The simplicity of her pictures is intriguing.

This time we get a lot of information by the artist herself along with the exhibtion. Right next to the entrance is a board with Melusina’s thoughts about “Wandering and Watching“:

Urban subjects are one of the main inspirations of my photographic work since my beginning as a photgrapher.
This time I wanted to show some details we could always see when we wander around in a twon: cars, buildings, buses, benches, signs, fences…. They could look meaningless when we don’t look at them closely; they fade out into the mess of the urban landscape. Nonetheless, they are the essentail ingredients of the recipe called “city” that we cook and eat every day.
I wanted to show also two possible way to observe ubran reality: some of the photos are in warm tones; shadows and subeams are protagonists of the image like in a sunny afternoon, they give to our gazes the image of a friendly environment where we can happily live; red spots call our attentions while a warm, suffused light turns us to a calm mood.
Other ones are in cooler tones: they represent the less attractive side of city life: voids, decay, lonely and sad places sunken in the light of a cloudy day. Even tehm are part of our daily life; giving them dignity of protagonists can reveal their charm; in some of them a rather vivid spot on a faded and blurred background, remeber us that sadness and happiness are always mixed up.

Impressions of “Wandering and Watching” by Melusina Parkin (1)

Also right next to the entrance you can purchase a book:
Melusina All-in-One Exhibits allow you to keep at home the whole exhibit you visited and loved. It’s an alternative kind of the exhibit catalogue: you can hang the object on your home’s walls and enjoy the changing images.
They come in four versions, that you can choose according to your home style: plain or framed, changing image by touch or in random loop. The objects are set as modifiable, so you can adapt them to your walls.
Last but not least you find a notecard with Melusina’s biography by clicking the picture of her above the table with the book.

Impressions of “Wandering and Watching” by Melusina Parkin (2)

Melusina is in Second Life since September 2008. She has been a fashion manager, a journalist, a furniture creator, a builder, a decorator and a photographer. Her work as a photographer has been showcased in more than 50 exhibitions – from which I saw just two. Melusina has a flickr account which counts more than 13,000 (!) photographs. Extensive collections of her photos can be seen also on her blog Virtual Exhibits and on some slideshows on Youtube (links under this post). Melusina has several galleries of her own (links also under this post).

Her photos tend towards minimalism, which is Melu’s main inclination: simple details from daily life or usual landscapes are the subject of mostly empty scenes, stressing voids, space, geometries, lights; this reveals hidden meanings or pushes the observer to give them her/his own one. Her favorite subjects are wide landscapes, city views, industrial environments, popular lifestyles and daily objects.

Impressions of “Wandering and Watching” by Melusina Parkin (3)

Thank you Dixmix for providing and curating the DixMix Gallery, thank you Megan for building it and for contributing at it. I enjoyed my visit and seeing Wandering and Watching by Melusina Parkin. The exhibition “Wandering and Watching” by Melusina Parkin will stay open until May 7th.

Landmark to Dixmix Gallery
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Madori%20Bay/46/213/22
DixMix Gallery website
https://www.dixmixgallery.xyz/
Melusina Parkin’s Flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/melusina_parkin/
Melusina Parkin’s “Second Life exhibits 2011-2019” as a book to read online
https://www.calameo.com/books/005997622f28dd58ca75d
Melusina Parkin’s Virtual Exhibit blog
http://meluphoto.blogspot.it/p/home.html
Slideshows of Melusina Parkin’s work on youtube
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVzglBiqhrOLXnAp3Qt3Zjw
Melusina Parkin’s inworld gallery “Minimum Gallery” and bookstore “Melubooks”
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Lunula/192/9/21
Melusina Parkin’s Photo Gallery at Time Portal
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Time%20Portal/248/101/1940
Melusina Parkin’s studio at PAC
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Cherished%20Melody/38/34/2165