Variable West

How can we use storytelling to reveal the power structures in narratives surrounding our lives?

In today’s video, Portland-based artist, illustrator, and writer Melanie Stevens () through her studio and talks about her multimedia process.

Melanie investigates narrative as a site of reflection or reinforcement of societal power structures and over-determined norms, specifically the manner in which stories (both real and fictional) supposedly centering people of the African diaspora have a long history of appropriation and erasure.

Her intent is to research and seek out these marked narratives, based on a predetermined set of rules and criteria, and to re-appropriate them, using a variety of media. In doing so, she illuminates the destructive resonance of these flawed narratives by juxtaposing a reimagined version that centers a nuanced and oft-ignored humanity in such a way as to appear irreverent or banal, as if it were the norm. She also empowers herself with these stories by reclaiming them as her own and resolving the dissonance of cultural amnesia, while encouraging opportunities for meditation and discourse.

Check out our series of studio visits with Oregon artists here: variablewest.com/video or at the link in our bio.

Thanks to our amazing team:

Documentarian: Javier Montes d'Arce ()

Producer: Amelia Rina ()

Editor: David Torres () and Javier

Music: Waltz- At First I Thought

This video series is made possible with generous support from and .