About

Mel Jhey lives and works on Gadigal Country, Darlinghurst in NSW, Australia. Her work harnesses the agency of materials to investigate the relationship between the unconscious mind, the body and emotions. Responding to the spaces she works in, she practices primarily with ceramics, experimental glazes and drawing, working quickly with a high level of physical intensity. In this embodied mode, her hands articulate memories and feelings that the brain and mouth cannot. With a sense of the uncanny, her work examines the intersection of the familiar and the surreal, utilising immersive forms and installation to invite physical and psychological curiosity. Her making is a dynamic interplay of control and surrender, both revealing and concealing, connected to the alchemy and energy of the cycles of death and decay, birth and regrowth. The ambiguity in her work represents the inherent dualities of the human condition, a contrast of humour and playfulness against dark, visceral energies. She situates hybrid forms that are part living organism and part inert object in a speculative realm where science fiction, anatomy and ritual collide.

  • Mel Jhey

    Exquisite Intangible, 2025

    Stoneware, glaze

    143 x 30 x 30 cm

  • Mel Jhey

    Yellow Urn, 2025

    Stoneware, iron oxide, engobe, glaze, epoxy, nailpolish, enamel

    103 x 30 x 30 cm

  • Mel Jhey

    Reach In, 2025

    Stoneware, glaze

    138 x 28 x 28 cm

  • Mel Jhey

    Resurface (side view), 2025

    Stoneware, engobe, slip, glaze

    133.5 x 122 x 78 cm

  • Mel Jhey

    Resurface (front view), 2025

    Stoneware, engobe, slip, glaze

    133.5 x 122 x 78 cm

  • Mel Jhey

    Resurface (rear view), 2025

    Stoneware, engobe, slip, glaze

    133.5 x 122 x 78 cm

  • Mel Jhey

    Huddle, 2025

    Stoneware, slip, glaze

    25 x 15 x 17 cm, 23 x 11 x 17 cm

  • Mel Jhey

    Writhe, 2025

    Earthenware, engobe, slip

    72 x 17 x 19 cm

  • Mel Jhey

    Three Monster Vases, 2025

    Stoneware, glaze

    27.5 x 11 x 9.5, 37 x 11 x 7, 42.5 x 14 x 11.5 cm

  • Mel Jhey

    Nook, 2025

    stoneware, engobe, glaze

    57 x 21 x 14 cm

  • Mel Jhey

    Mysterious Cactus #1, 2025

    Stoneware, slip, glaze

    40 x 14 x 14 cm

  • Mel Jhey

    Mysterious Cactus #2, 2025

    Stoneware, slip, engobe, glaze

    48 x 30 x 18 cm

  • Mel Jhey

    Cocoon, 2025

    Earthenware, glaze

    79.5 x 13 x 13 cm

  • Mel Jhey

    Echo, 2025

    Stoneware, glaze, slip, engobe

    22 x 13 x 7 cm, 38 x 21 x 13 cm

  • Mel Jhey

    Languid Lure, 2025

    Earthenware, slip, glaze, thread

    60 x 30 x 19 cm

  • Mel Jhey

    Oracle, 2025

    Earthenware, glaze

    143 x 30 x 30 cm

  • Mel Jhey

    Camouflage, 2025

    Stoneware, glaze

    39 x 20 x 15 cm

  • Mel Jhey

    Amulet, 2024

    Stoneware, glaze

    46 x 22 x 10 cm

  • Mel Jhey

    Mysterious Flower, 2024

    Stoneware, glaze, gold leaf

    38 x 15 x 18 cm

  • Mel Jhey

    Plom Plom, 2024

    Stoneware, glaze

    25 x 15 x 15 cm

  • Mel Jhey

    Sploink, 2024

    Stoneware, glaze

    33 x 12 x 12 cm