Melanie Eclare is a photographer based in the south west of England, currently studying for an MA in Photography at Plymouth University.
Her photographs have been extensively published in the UK and internationally in books and publications. As one of the leading UK garden photographers Melanie worked for the Saturday and Sunday Times, Saturday and Sunday Telegraph, U. S Garden Design Magazine, World of Interiors, Country Life, Country Living, Gardens Illustrated and House and Garden Magazine. Gardening editor and photographer for Red Magazine, she also contributed to many books as well as having her own books published by Quadrille, Kyle Cathie and Weidenfeld and Nicolson working alongside writers such as Elspeth Thompson and Tom Petherick.
Melanie has recently taken a new direction with her photography. The broad theme of her work is an exploration of Nature Deficit Disorder. This describes the current divorce between human and habitat; an alienation from nature that negatively affects children and adults alike. Ever increasing screen time and over protective parenting alienates us from an innate sense of place within the rhythms and cycles of life. This is an issue effecting many of us and will continue to become more of a a challenge for new generations to come.
Allied with this exploration is a search for meaning, questioning what it means to be part of the anthropocene generation. We are the ones living in a moment in deep time when more damage has occurred on the planet then ever before, the effects of which will take millennia to re-balance. On a personal level this bigger picture imbalance is reflected in the prevalence of intergenerational trauma felt on an individual level. Melanie is looking beneath the immediately visible, at deeper layers of discontent that exist beyond surface narrative and stripping away the mask to reveal autobiographical details hidden within the context of her images.
Awards
2016 Format/Flaneur Project Bursary, Format Festival
2016 Shortlisted for Fotofilmic International Print Film Competition
2016 Honorable Mention L A Photo Curator International Photography Competition
2015 Shortlisted Finalist for The Renaissance Photography Prize
2015 Finalist for The Royal Photographic International Print Exhibition.
