Melissa Joseph
no words
2 MAY until 7 JUN 2025
Opening – 2 MAY 2025, 6-9 pm
“Irish Exit”, 2023
74 x 49 x 16 inches
Needle felted wool on industrial felt with found vanity
and tchotchkes
Photo by Pierre Le Hors
Soy Capitan is pleased to announce no words, the New York-based artist Melissa Joseph’s first solo show in Europe. Known for her needle-felted tableaus, often embedded in found or handmade objects, Joseph draws on imagery from her personal archive, creating “cocoons of memory” that preserve snippets from her life as well as those around her, be it family, friends, or community. For no words, Joseph took inspiration from an ongoing conversation with her friend, the acclaimed poet Megan Fernandes, about the precarious nature of language and visibility in light of contemporary erasures. Fernandes’ poem Discipline – commissioned for the exhibition – serves as an entry point for Joseph’s newest body of work which reflects on censorship, accountability, and the ways in which words and ideas are rebranded and rendered inaccessible. Making work in both New York and Berlin, Joseph enlists site as an accomplice to her examinations.
“Kaipum Madhuravum”, 2024
60 x 36 inches
Needle felted wool on industrial felt
Photo by Daniel Greer
“2 miles behind the chicken truck in Brentonville AR”, 2023
61 x 43 inches
Needle felted wool on industrial felt
Photo by Paul Salveson
“Art is a literacy I use to read the world around me. I’m not referring to art historical pedagogy in this instance, although context can undoubtedly deepen our connection to something. Art turns everything from rocks and fibers to sounds and images into language, more specifically into our own personal and occasionally secret languages. Some of the words and grammar are universal, encouraging us to engage with and interpret one another, but the beauty and nuance of bending them toward poetry is ours to hone over a lifetime.“
Melissa Joseph, Excerpt from an interview, All Arts Staff, 2025
Melissa Joseph is a New York based artist. Her work considers themes of memory, family history, and the politics of how we occupy spaces. She intentionally alludes to the labors of women as well as experiences as a second generation American and the unique juxtapositions of diasporic life.
Melissa Joseph’s artistic process is deeply rooted in material exploration and personal narratives. Her practice involves layering, stitching, and assembling materials like felt in ways that blur the boundaries between painting, sculpture, and craft. By integrating personal and historical references, Joseph’s process becomes an act of storytelling, weaving together themes of family, migration, and collective memory.