Melissa Steckbauer at Arco Lisboa 2024

Steckbauer’s work seeks to increase possibilities of intimacy and communication by emphasizing the ecstasy of everyday human experience. They convey deep feelings and interpersonal relationships. She compares her artistic process to writing love letters, with each artwork becoming a visual expression of something deeply human and transcendent. 

Melissa Steckbauer reflects on narratives and representations of desire and debates the categorization, sexualization and objectification of bodies. She views her work as an instrument to illustrate social power structures, to question prevailing norms and as an attempt to break them down. The focus is not primarily on voyeurism or provocation through nudity or sexualized acts, but rather on the potential for resistance and emancipation. Within that framework she plays with the feelings of her audience, sometimes evoking embarrassment but also curiosity.