Haley Mellin – Siamo Natura

Museo Novecento is pleased to announce the first solo exhibition in an Italian institution of American artist and environmentalist Haley Mellin, recognized for her dedication to painting and land conservation. The exhibition “Siamo Natura,” curated by Sergio Risaliti and Stefania Rispoli, will open to the public on Tuesday, June 24, through Wednesday, Oct. 29.

Haley Mellin is the founder of the non-profit initiative Art into Acres, which has mobilized artists to support the Indigenous- and locally-led protection of over millions hectares of old-growth forests through artist-driven fundraising. 

These efforts have contributed to the formation of national parks, protected areas, including indigenous ones, and community conservation territories-that is, spaces dedicated to the protection of biodiversity and legal recognition of lands in favor of local historic communities. For the first time, Mellin’s work with Art into Acres is presented as activist art, inseparable from her painting and drawing.

While participating in land conservation, Mellin creates detailed artworks of the very landscapes she helps protect. Her paintings often exhibit a subtle, almost disappearing hand, emphasizing the rich and varied nature of the places she depicts. “Art is about the preservation of a concept, a way of being, a history, a testimony, a heritage,” Mellin reflects. “Painting, for me, is about preserving a particular state of mind—a way of being in and with nature. It’s about paying homage, not distorting; about spending time, observing, studying, and listening as nature speaks.”

The Florence exhibition brings together her artworks and environmental projects, offering a compelling meditation on their interconnection. It highlights Mellin’s commitment to documenting protected landscapes through direct observation and small-scale painting. She works seasonally in outdoor studios, minimizing emissions by forgoing electricity, heating, and cooling. “Land conservation, as a practice, is invisible,” Mellin says. “When done well, there is no trace of your presence—life continues to unfold as it has for millennia.”

Alongside the exhibition, Haley Mellin is collaborating with the Museo Novecento on the Giardino delle Leopoldine. Launching on June 24, the project has seen the planting of approximately 300 native plants over the past month in the museum’s historic cloister garden, following research into its original layout and usage.

Raised in San Francisco, California, Haley Mellin is an artist and environmental activist whose work bridges painting, land conservation, and climate advocacy. She studied critical theory, art history, drawing and painting in Florence under Rose Shakinovsky and Claire Gavronsky (rosenclaire) and has become a leading voice in the environmental movement for biodiversity and the permanent protection of natural landscapes.

In 2023, Mellin was named the Max Beckmann Distinguished Visitor at the American Academy in Berlin, in joint residence with the Neue Nationalgalerie. As the founder of the nonprofit initiative Art into Acres, she has helped secure the permanent protection of millions of hectares of wild land through collaborations with artists, museums, and environmental organizations. Her conservation-focused work supports museums across Europe in integrating sustainability and climate education—including the Neue Nationalgalerie, documenta, Hamburger Kunsthalle, and Kunstmuseum Bonn.

Mellin earned her undergraduate degree from the University of California, Berkeley, and later completed the Whitney Independent Study Program. She has taught at the Studio Museum in Harlem and the Museum of Modern Art, and holds a Ph.D. from New York University’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, where she recently delivered the commencement address. For the past 25 years she has been mentored by rosenclaire.

Her artwork has been exhibited at venues including Dittrich & Schlechtriem, Hauser & Wirth, MoMA PS1, Bischoff Projects, Morán Morán, Giovanni’s Room, and The Journal Gallery. As an educator and writer, she has given talks at institutions such as the Whitney Museum of American Art, the American Academy in Berlin, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Mellin is a co-author of the 2024 Frontiers in Science paper “Conservation Imperatives,” which outlines a practical, cost-effective plan to protect the planet’s rare, threatened and endemic biodiversity through community-led initiatives.