Melanie Schoeniger

Mélanie Schoeniger is a photographer from Bavaria, Germany, passionate about capturing the beauty of nature. The artist creates botanical photomontages that merge ancient artistic techniques with modern digital media, blending manufactured and organic materials. The resulting works skillfully explore themes of endurance, interconnectedness, and the ripples of human history and nature over time.

Career Beginnings and Influences

Born in 1977 and raised in southern Bavaria, near the Alps, Mélanie Schoeniger studied in Munich and graduated with honors in multimedia design in 1999. She then worked as an art director, overseeing various projects ranging from small print designs to the digital visual identity of large companies, including Allianz. A strong influence in Mélanie Schoeniger's work is ukiyo-e, the Japanese art of woodblock printing. Ukiyo-e, which translates to "pictures of the floating world," explores the ephemeral nature of life with an attitude of hedonism and transgression. One can see in the artist's works traits of Japanese art from the Edo period (1615-1868), such as playful asymmetry, flat and unshaded colors, and creative and unpredictable framing. Thus, her digital collage series possesses a curious depth due to its many layers of perception.

Mélanie Schoeniger's Mission

Mélanie Schoeniger seeks to glimpse our inherent interconnectedness with the earth. Her floral and plant works, both spiritual and militant, celebrate the abundance of life that nature offers while highlighting the alarming loss of biodiversity due to human intervention. The artist sincerely believes in the transformative power of art and hopes that her works can evoke and inspire in viewers the deep wish to protect and preserve nature for future generations. Mélanie Schoeniger often donates the proceeds from her works to causes supporting environmental protection.

Awards and Honorable Mentions

Mélanie Schoeniger won first place in the Environment category at the 2021 Chromatic Awards. The artist also received four honorable mentions at the 2021 IPA International Photography Awards, selected from over 14,000 entries. She has exhibited at the Curators Salon of Gita Joshi and during the group exhibition Secret Garden at Landing Contemporary Art, a nomadic contemporary art gallery. The magazine Art Seen has published the works of Mélanie Schoeniger.