Objects / Collaborations
Works

BBF Baum Besties Forever, 2025
varying dimensions
paper pulp, PVA glue, dry wall joint compound, cement, paper packing tape, metal wire, acrylic
Nomadic by Veduta, Brussels
installation photos by Jonas Reubens
BBF, Baum Besties Forever explores the idea of interspecies friendship. Inspired by the presence of primary schools in the Bloemenhof neighbourhood and the rituals of childhood — like crafting friendship bracelets — Melis imagines what it would mean for trees to form bonds with one another. What names would they choose? How would they communicate? Could different species or generations of trees understand each other?

Melis selected three trees — located at Bloemenhofplein, Grootsermentstraat, and Zennestraat — as the recipients of handmade friendship bracelets. Wrapped gently around the trees, the pieces act as festive decorations and suggest a sense of kinship between the trees. In doing so, Melis creates subtle markers of connection in public space between people, places, and natural elements woven into the city
.”

- link to the text written by Veduta






Untitled, 2024
120 x 90 x 90 cm
pattern drawing paper, paper yarn, packaging tape, metal wire, buttons, magnets, lamp




Click here to read Jean Watt's text that accompanied the solo presentation This is So together with A Place to Rest, in which this work was presented at the back of a removals van.






1. Untitled, 2021
152 x 188 cm
linen cord on cotton, stones
installation photo, 10N Brussels

2-3. Mnemosyne and Lethe at work, 2022
160 x 160 cm
cotton cord, stones
installation photos by Anaïs Chabeur, Generation Brussels during Brussels Gallery Weekend

4-5. Untitled, 2021
110 x 110 cm
linen cord

6-8. Peter’s Breath on a Starlit Tennis Court in Valensole, 2021
93 x 36 x 80 cm
grandparents’ chairs, linen cord, copper wire, weeds, wooden, stone, glass and pearl beads
installation photos by Anaïs Chabeur, Generation Brussels during Brussels Gallery Weekend

Net pieces 2021-2022

Informed by an archeological interest in human ingenuity and the magic of making things by hand.





1-2. Object not in place, 2023, 70 x 45, wood, metal hardware, cotton and nylon thread, wooden and plastic beads, clay

3-4. Postcards from Spain, 2021, 33 x 46, glass beads, nylon thread and metal rings
Beaded works, 2021-2023






1. Excluding VAT, 2019,
100 x 150 cm
wool embroidered on cotton

2. Will Make You Fade, 2019 
96 x 80 cm
wool embroidered on cotton

3. Post-Neolithic Graffiti, 2019
117 x 100 cm
wool embroidered on cotton

Embroidered tapestries, 2019








Veerle Melis
E-mail
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Syzygy
Veerle Melis (1990 b. Tilburg, NL) is a self-taught artist with a background in Cultural Studies. Through her process-focused, mostly sculptural works from textile, paper, cardboard and other humble materials, she meditates on what it means to create. Acknowledging the different tangible and less tangible elements that gather in her practice, she seeks to reconsider and rearrange the substances that shape everyday life. Themes such as architecture, decoration and childlike handicraft emerge as the building blocks for exploring alternative realities and the entanglement of matter and meaning.

Alongside of her personal practice she is part of Syzygy, a multi-generational collective that stands for sisterhood and mutual support.





EDUCATION
Cultural Studies, MA
Radboud University Nijmegen, NL
2015-2017

Cultural Studies, BA
Radboud University Nijmegen, NL
2010-2013





EXHIBITIONS 
(selection)
Nomadic
Veduta, Brussels, BE
2025

This is So (solo)
A Place to Rest, Brussel, BE 
2025

Oval Window with Syzygy Collective
Oemoemenoe by Vleeshal Middelburg, Yerseke, NL 
2024

Triops
Imprimerie, Brussels, BE
2024

Hall of Mirrors 
Plop, London, UK 
2023

Tiny Art Gallery
Ruis, Nijmegen, NL
2023

Haberdashery
10N at Mercerie, Brussels, BE
2023

Prospects
Art Rotterdam, NL
2023

Between You and Me
San Mei Gallery, London, UK
2022

Exercises for Sabotage, with Liza Prins (duo)
Van Gogh House Londen, UK
2022

Generation Brussels
Brussels Gallery Weekend, Brussels, BE
2022

The Lamb is Not Innocent, with Liza Prins (duo)
Hotel Maria Kapel, Hoorn, NL
2022

Apples & Oranges
CIAP, Genk, BE
2021

Salon Sale, 
Level Five, Brussels, BE
2021

Time Hangs Heavy, with Jot Fau and Lucie Lanzini
10N, Brussels, BE
2021

Collectible Fair with Fraca’s gallery
Vanderborght, Brussels, BE
2020

Eyl-yuhn, ey-lee-uhn and Masterpiece, with Lidewij Sloot and Liza Prins
The Bookstore Foundation, Amsterdam, NL
2020
         
Fading Mantras
Kunstlijn Haarlem, Paviljoen Welgelegen, Haarlem, NL
2019





GRANTSMondriaan Fund
Project for the residency at Van Gogh House London
2022

Mondriaan Fund Artist Start Grant
2021

Josine de Bruyn Kops Fund, 
for the exhibition at Hotel Maria Kapel
2020





RESIDENCIES
Ateliers Tilburg
Tilburg, NL
2023

Van Gogh House London
Londen, UK
2022

Arteventura
Aracena, ES
2021





PRESS
Six Questions for Veerle Melis, Tique

Artist of the Month, Collect Magazine

Generation Brussels review by Glean Magazine

Interview with Warp and Weft Magazine















The wrinkeled shirt pouffe, 2025
The first in a series of sitting ojects made on demand.






Oval Window with Syzygy collective, 2024
Upon invitation by Vleeshal Middelburg, in the light of their public nomadic program called Oemoemenoe, Syzygy collective created an exhibition in a 'praathuisje' - loosely translated as chatting house. In this small hut in Yerseke, where daily visitors are typically men in their 60s, we collaborated with the local community and invited local artists to shed new light on traditions related to life by the water.






Research Residency at Ateliers Tilburg, 2023
Photo’s by Fréderique Scholtes
During one month, Ateliers Tilburg offered me a studio for a research residency that I used to explore the potential of everyday materials such as cardboard, paper, tape and push pins as mediums for imagining domestic spaces.







Darning workshop at Reay Primary school, 2022
Photo by Livia Wang

Liza Prins and I undertook a residency at Van Gogh House London where we explored different exercises for sabotage over the course of multiple public events and workshops. One of these events entailed teaching kids at the Reay Primary School to darn.







Becoming Lamb, Hotel Maria Kapel, 2022
Departing from Anne Boyer’s poem ‘When the Lambs Rise up against the Bird of Prey’ Liza Prins and I hosted a workshop to make multiple person sweaters. That same evening we hosted a dinner for about 30 guests where we invited speakers/performers Romy Day Winkel (see photo), Aimee Theriot and Rosie Broadhead to share stories in the line of Anne Boyer’s poem. The food was prepared by Dimitra Fellerhoff.







© Veerle Melis 2025