Melanie and The Night Falls: The Muse Experience

An Almost Indescribable Experience: When Heather B. Swann Saw Me in the Dark

I’m still finding the words, let me try to explain!

When Heather B. Swann first approached me, I was honoured and excited, of course. To be asked to sit for an artist of her calibre—someone whose work delves into that dark, sensual, and utterly fantastic space, translating deep emotion and the "poetics of intimate sensation" into form—was an honor. I’ve long admired how she explores the symbol-rich underworld of our lives, transforming the figurative into something beautifully uncanny and surrealist.

But nothing, absolutely nothing, prepared me for the actual experience, or for the final result: Melanie and The Night Falls at Station Gallery.

My name, Melanie, means "dark." Heather and I had met about a year ago, finding an instant synergy. My parents chose the name because of my dark hair when I was born, and I suppose this inherent darkness made me a fitting choice for the exhibition’s concept. After she'd completed the works, Heather explained the outcome: a suite of paintings closely aligned with melancholia, reaching for the quiet, uncanny metaphor of the night and its ancient symbolism. This concept resonated deeply.

I'm the founder of Pieces of Eight Gallery and Melanie Katsalidis Jewellery. In my own work, I’m used to shaping form, light, and developing new ideas myself. But to be on the other side, simply to be and to allow someone else's vision to unfold around me, was a truly humbling and quite a surreal process. It also taught me more about surrender and trust.

Heather’s project is all about belief in what is underneath, how our lives are haunted by metaphors, how phenomena constantly shape shift, determined by our cultural knowledge, dreams, and longing.

To see the final works, the "Melanie suite," alongside the arresting, large abstract "Night Fall" scapes, was utterly breathtaking. The paintings of me, so spare and still, yet so rich with symbolism, were beyond anything I had ever imagined. They hold a stillness that transcends being a mere portrait. They are, as Heather intended, somehow beyond real, possessing that beautiful, unsettling surreality.

And here is the part that still leaves me speechless: it resulted in four paintings. I went into this expecting perhaps a singular focus, a sketch, or maybe a canvas. The fact that my presence, my 'dark' namesake, inspired a complete suite, a central anchor for Heather’s exploration of the rich themes of the night, is an incredible affirmation. It’s a moment I hold close, a beautiful reminder of the poetry and story that art provides us, for both sorrow and delight.

Something magical happened when I was transformed through Heather’s eyes. I became an ancient symbol, a vessel for a universal quietness. It was an experience that felt both deeply personal and profoundly universal. The way she has depicted me holding the moon, in particular, is intensely personal.

During the pandemic, I started a ritual of journaling on the new and full moon, which helped me mark time and create a reflective space. It has left me fascinated by cycles and deeper ideas around how time is both fast and slow. Heather also depicted me wearing my favourite Double Circle Ring, which, with its perfect balance of two circles, echoes the shape of the moon. It all feels so personal and exquisite, as well as forever overwhelming and extraordinary. What an experience! To commemorate this collaboration, I gifted Heather one of my pearl pieces, featuring two pearls, representing the two moons: her and me.

Upcoming Work and Gallery Representation

Heather B. Swann is represented by STATION Gallery, which is currently hosting Melanie and The Night Falls, her fourth solo exhibition with the gallery. Looking ahead, Heather has several major projects on the horizon. She was recently awarded the Copyright Agency Commission to present new work in a major solo exhibition, The Forests of Symbols, at the University of New South Wales Galleries in 2026. This ambitious project is conceived as the first in a final series of exhibitions she has undertaken to work on for the rest of her life. Even more recently, she was awarded an Australian Print Workshop Shelton Artist Fellowship. Working with the APW master printers, she will create new drawings to produce a suite of lithographs, which will be exhibited at the Print Workshop in Melbourne in March 2026.