- Art
- Talks + Tours
Meet the Artists: Melanie Elyse Brewster and Noormah Jamal with Sonya Posmentier
Join us for two Meet the Artist programs with exhibiting artists Melanie Elyse Brewster and Noormah Jamal. At 2PM, join us for a performative walkthrough of Melanie Elyse Brewster’s exhibition A Metaphysical Quest for the Deepest Backbend led by anthropologist and professor Dr. Janet Lykos, PhD. Lykos will unpack the aftermath of a mysterious ritual that took place in the Sunroom, where a yoga practitioner is said to have completed a backbend so deep that she transformed into an ouroboros, a serpent eating its own tail. Drawing on her academic expertise, Lykos will examine the ancient artifacts left behind and provide context on the contemporary histories of the practices depicted in the exhibition. The walkthrough will be followed by a conversation between Brewster and Curator of Visual Arts Rachel Raphaela Gugelberger about the artist’s parafictional project and its exploration of belief, ritual, and transformation.
At 3:15PM, Jamal will discuss her outdoor installation, Blooms, and activate the site with a collaborative poetry reading with NYU professor and poet Sonya Posmentier. In Blooms, flowering ceramic heads emerge from an arid landscape. These heads represent the resilience of a people through times of hardship, paying specific homage to Jamal's home of Peshawar, Pakistan. Once known as “City of Flowers,” over the years, Peshawar has become dry, mountainous city, and the people and landscape have both endured the effects of climate change and war. Still, the people persevere in their homeland, becoming the city’s flowers.
Meet the Artist is an ongoing series of conversations between exhibiting artists, the curatorial team, and sometimes invited guests at Wave Hill. As part of the Sunroom Project Space, this program is designed collaboratively with the artists and takes various forms. Meet the Artist offers visitors, the artists’ communities, and others an opportunity to gain insight into the artist's creative process and the themes present in their work.
Registration encouraged but not required, online or by calling 718.549.3200 x251.
-
Melanie Elyse Brewster
Melanie Elyse Brewster
Melanie Elyse Brewster is a Greek-American interdisciplinary artist and scholar. With work broadly focused on queer futurities, she has published peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, and a book, Atheists in America, on experiences of marginality, nonbelief, and stress. Brewster has presented solo exhibitions at Field Projects, NY, and Brazosport College Art Gallery, Lake Jackson, TX. Her work has been featured in exhibitions at the 2026 SPRING/BREAK Art Show; Bronx River Art Center; The Invisible Dog; and La Mama Galleria, all in New York City; Peep Space, Tarrytown, NY; The CAMP Gallery, Miami, FL; Arts Warehouse, Delray Beach, FL; 100,000,000, Kansas City, MO; Wönzimer Gallery, Los Angeles, CA; Wignall Museum, Rancho Cucamonga, CA; and Koehnline Museum of Art, Chicago, IL, among others. Brewster’s work has been covered in the New York Times, CultBytes, Whitehot Magazine of Contemporary Art, and Boca Magazine. She earned an MFA from the School of Visual Arts, NY, and a PhD in Counseling Psychology from the University of Florida, Miami. Brewster has been a professor in the Department of Counseling and Clinical Psychology at Columbia University since 2011.
-
Noormah Jamal
Noormah Jamal
Noormah Jamal is a Brooklyn-based multidisciplinary artist. Her work centers around identity and the personal baggage that people carry. Her image making and sculptures are deeply rooted in the oral histories of her community and family. She has exhibited internationally at Rajiv Menon Contemporary, Los Angeles; Twelve Gates Arts, Philadelphia; Rietberg Museum, Zurich; and Canvas Gallery, Karachi. Her work has been featured in various publications and media including Hyperallergic, the Herald, Artsy, Impulse Magazine, the Karachi Collective and the New American paintings. Currently she is a member of the Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts, Manhattan studio program. Jamal graduated from the National College of Arts, Lahore in 2016. She earned her MFA in from Pratt Institute, New York in 2023.
-
Sonya Posmentier
Sonya Posmentier
Sonya Posmentier is a professor and writer in New York City. She is the author of Cultivation and Catastrophe: The Lyric Ecology of Modern Black Literature (2017). Her essays and poems have appeared in The New York Times Book Review, The Yale Review, English Literary History, American Literary History, Public Books, and elsewhere.
What's happening at Wave Hill
Know Before You Go
Our tips help you navigate our grounds and protect our living collection—and we have guidelines in place to keep us all safe and well.
