Melitta Nemeth transforms memory and history into art, drawing from Eastern European roots, analogue photography, and the quiet power of women’s stories. Each piece challenges traditional narratives, reclaims identity, and builds a visual language that connects the personal to the universal. Melitta’s work pushes boundaries, blending light and form to create timeless reflections on freedom, heritage, and resilience.

✧✧✧

How has your upbringing and cultural background influenced your artistic journey and creative expression? 

I was growing up in the Eastern Block during the last years of the socialist regime. After my father died I became obsessed with family photo albums. My passion for photography by now includes any found photos in general. Photos are objects that makes us think and feel, they have an almost spiritual quality. They  seemed as means to preserve the lives of loved ones, but also to preserve the memory of people from an era that might be forgotten otherwise. Photos were created by photons that touched the emulsion layer of the film after bouncing back from the person in front of the  camera. It feels as if they really contained a piece of reality connected to a certain person in a certain moment of time. 

 

My art has become really influenced by my love for photos. After my first years as an artist I  was not trying to create portraits anymore. I looked for the potential of creating an artwork  with general figures who are not connected to a certain time or space. As a child and young adult I spent my summers near the Danube, on river islands and near the Lake Velence. The feeling of freedom I experienced in natural waters deeply influenced my work. Female bathers keep returning in my practice as metaphors of freedom and  togetherness. As a girl, young woman and a budding artist at the end of the twentieth century I had several  negative experiences in that still quite patriarchal society. From abuse in church setting to sexist comments and harassment in the art scene: the repertoire was wide. Soon in my  paintings I started to create a female universe, a safe space, a refuge for women and children.  My art education was mainly based on life drawing. I created several portraits and nudes in  art clubs and at university. Later I studied at a printmaking course at the University of Fine  Arts in Budapest, where I again used my drawing skills. Although I primarily work in painting now, drawing is still very important foundation in my practice. 

Can you recall a pivotal moment or experience in your early life that ignited your passion for art? 

I grew up among artworks my parents collected. A big part of these were from then contemporary Hungarian painters, they were mainly cityscapes and still lives. My father worked in Nigeria for a while, so we had some smaller statues and other handmade items from there. This was quite unique in the seventies, since people from Easter Block could not travel outside the area. As far as I remember these African handmade artworks were some of the most intriguing objects in our home for me as a child. My maternal grandmother was a tailor. I remember how excited it made me feel when we  spread out the sewing patterns on the floor of the living room to outline them with tailor’s chalk on the fabric.

 

Female ancestors and family members have always influenced me as a person and still keep influencing me as an artist. (I have frequent Skype-conversations with  my mother, where the personal storytelling of past events seem to have a bigger and bigger  role.) I was deeply influenced by all these experiences as a child. I started to see myself as someone  who makes things. This mental image of me as a creator first manifested in drawing, later  printmaking and painting. Being I was an introvert my favourite pastime as a child was reading  and drawing, later painting. I got my first paints from a family friend, who was a painter. 

Describe your quest for uniqueness in your art. How do you distinguish your work from others? 

I paint women, since I live in a woman’s body and experience the world through it. I have been encouraged by what Helene Cixous says in The Laugh of the Medusa about writing: “By writing her self, woman will return to the body which has been more than confiscated from her, which has been turned into the uncanny stranger on display”. I depict my figures alone or in the company of others, in a safe space, hidden from the objectifying gaze. The visual uniqueness of my paintings comes from the unusual light effects I use. My figures often appear similar to photo negative. Since I studied analogue photography at secondary school and was really passionate of looking at old slides and photos, I was aware how different figures look in negative. This amendment of the original photo helps me to feel the potential of the image.  

 

My figures seem to have an inner glow due to these light effects that differentiates them  from realistic figures. I create a type of beauty that is different from the representation of  women in the media. The figures in my paintings lack specific identity therefore they connect  the audience with their own memories and imagination. I started to work using this method during my MA, when I worked on the Night Bathers series.  The idea of using different light effects connected with the idea of nocturnal atmosphere. 

Contemplate the role and responsibilities of an artist in society today. How do you perceive the role of an artist in today's society? What responsibilities, if any, do you believe artists have towards their communities or the broader public? 

I believe “the artist’s responsibility is to the truth of things” (Vivienne Westwood). This truth is  unique to every artists. We do not serve the taste of the audience but shape it. We create our  own market and audience. The responsibility lies in being true to our own vision. Artists are  thinkers and not makers. As artists, we must oppose the idea that it is our duty to create pretty decorations for  people’s homes that match the colour of the sofa. While I understand that there is a more  commercial type of art, I think we must recognise how people’s opinions influence us and  constantly resist this influence. We must emphasise towards organisations that we do not  work for free and exposure is not enough to pay the artist. Our important responsibility towards society today is to demonstrate that artists are still  independent thinkers, their ideas come from their unique visions and not from following  popular ideologies or trends. Hopefully these unique and complex visions, that AI cannot  produce, will preserve the role of the artist untouched and special in this age of algorithms, robots and social media. 

Debate the necessity of a political agenda in art. Do you think it's important for art to have a political agenda? Why or why not? How does this perspective influence your own work? 

Art can be political but only if the political thought comes from personal experience. “The  personal is political” as the second wave feminists said. It is still true. Art has to be more than  barely an illustration of an ideology.  My practice is centred around the representation of the female figure. Painting women as a  female artist means to go against the male dominated art history and art scene as it is.  Creating our own image the way we see ourselves is in itself political. Through our personal  experiences, our labour and connection with the material (paint for example) the personal political becomes part of our work. 

Describe your artistic process from conception to completion. Could you walk us through the steps of your artistic process, starting from the initial idea to the finished piece? How do you develop your concepts, and what are the key stages in creating your final work? 

My artistic process starts with a vision that I could call a mental image. This is an idea without  any details. The next step is scrolling through photo archives and contemporary images in  order to find something that fits the idea. This is when surprising things happen. If I find some  amazing imagery another idea might take over.  This is a continuous dialogue between my ideas, my subconscious and the photo archives.  Constant research into the lives of women through photography and reading, supported by  my own memories, emotional and bodily experiences. The way the photo inspires the painting is a complex process. Many painters have a love-hate relationship with photography. Photo can be a great inspiration but at the same time our  admiration for the image might stifle our creativity. I always amend the original photo digitally  before using it as a reference image for a painting. I make the image more abstract by blurring it, to see the essence. The challenge is, how paint changes the image, how can an image  become part of a painting. 

 

The next step is usually making prints and looking at them. Looking at images might seem a  passive act, but it is actually a very important step in my process. I let further ideas emerge,  especially in terms of colour, composition, background. In my practice ambiguous background  works best. I hand-colour the prints and often make drawing or paint sketches to figure out  the best way to go on with the painting. I tone the canvas with a turquoise or blue, then I sketch the outlines of the image on the  surface. The real excitement comes from finding the right colours, because colours only come  alive next to complementing colours. I always start the painting with the figures in the centre of the composition and leave finishing the background for later. This is the most enjoyable  part: to play with oil paint.  Each painting is a new adventure. Having limited time helps me avoid being precious about  the details. It is crucial to put down the paintbrush at the right moment, since overworking  can really kill a piece.  

 

Share your sources of inspiration. What are your primary sources of inspiration? 

I am inspired by different representations of women. Photography has been intriguing for me  from a very early age. Especially analogue photo is a great source of inspiration, since it could  not be manipulated or edited. Analogue photos are created by emulsion touched by light in a  certain moment of time. They contain an irreversible technical imprint of that moment. Family photo albums have always seemed to connect me with the lives of people in them.  Even if I don’t know much about these lives, the images ignite my imagination. I prefer using black and white photos as reference images because they leave more space for  imagination. Love vintage photos. Fortepan is my favourite archive that I return to time to  time. It is a community photo archive based in Budapest, Hungary. It was established in 2010. Today the archive contains thousands of digitized high-resolution archival photos that capture  everyday twentieth-century life in Hungary. Since I was born in Budapest this archive  connects me with my roots, a past that I still don’t know enough.  I am also inspired by contemporary photos, swimmers, wild swimmers, runners, bathers,  porcelain figurines, films and art historical representations such as goddess statues. It all  originates in my never ending interest in women’s lives and potential. 

Discuss your methods for entering a creative state of mind. What specific techniques or practices do you use to get into the right mindset for creating art? Do you have any rituals, routines, or a particular environment that helps stimulate your creativity?

My secret is for entering a creative state of mind is not getting out of it. I am nurturing my  artist mind by writing, drawing, looking at images and reading. This is not an easy process  because society does not support anyone in being creative. We are forced to strive for  perfection in our everyday life without opportunities to stop and to think, to daydream or to  experiment. Being an artist means to say no to the demands of this success oriented society,  to slow down and take a leap of faith.  

Reflect on your favourite creation and the reasons behind your choice. Could you tell us about your favourite piece that you have created? What makes this piece particularly significant to you, and what was the inspiration or story behind it? 

I made one of my paintings, Night Bather 3, during the Covid pandemic. It was inspired by a  newspaper photo representing a woman floating in the sea at Margate. She was the very first  person after lockdown who could use the newly reopened beach. This moment of  rediscovered freedom and happiness really moved me. I thought this was a universal and  memorable moment that connected us as humans. It was really worth painting.  The small and blurry image from the newspaper left a lot of space for my imagination.  

 

Night Bathers 3 was later exhibited at the Saatchi Gallery. The feedback I got from the  audience was really great. The painting was shared several times on social media. It was also  featured in an article by Waldemar Januszczak in The Sunday Times. This painting reminds me that any small all blurred photo can be a source of inspiration. The  idea that is behind the painting is the most important and not the quality or the details of the  photo. 

How do you envision the evolution of your art in the coming years? What are your long-term goals and aspirations as a professional artist? 

Most artists have much more ideas in in their mind than completed in their studio. As for me,  I would love to create larger paintings. I plan to spend more time with experimenting, writing down ideas, drawing and reading. I want to develop three dimensional artworks, possibly  textile.  I think it is very important to see how easily we give in and continue something we already  know, instead of taking risks and striving for greater works through experimentation.  Currently I feel that my Easter European identity still demands bigger space in my art, it is like  an underground current that is influencing my practice and comes to surface time to time to  show itself fully. Living in the UK as an Easter European who experienced socialism is a very  interesting experience. Life as an immigrant made me understand how special and precious  my past and heritage were. Being a woman, an Easter European immigrant, who was born in  socialism and a Londoner: these little pieces together create the person and artist that I am  today.

Offer five pieces of advice to artists who are experiencing discouragement or creative blocks. 

✧ There are no creative blocks. It is just difficulties you must go through to get to the  next level. Difficulties will shape you. 

✧ Try to stop doing art. When you realised, that you cannot stop, do it better then ever. 

✧ Be aware of exploitation of artists in the art scene and build reliable network. 

✧ Don’t let galleries put you in a box. Make a new, bigger box for yourself.

✧Nobody wants you to be a great artist. It is all up to you.

✦ ✦ ✦

Melitta Nemeth’s art is a reclamation of identity and a confrontation of forgotten truths. By weaving the past into the present, Melitta challenges viewers to rethink their understanding of memory, history, and belonging. The work stands as a testament to the resilience of women, the complexity of heritage, and the enduring power of art to provoke, disrupt, and awaken.