.png;w=960)
In a city constantly in motion, Brooklyn-based fiber artist Melissa Joseph's work asks us to pause—and to recognize the quiet beauty in simply being with one another. Through richly textured materials and intimate subject matter, Joseph makes a powerful case for tenderness as both an aesthetic and a political act.
That quiet approach now takes center stage in her upcoming public exhibition, Melissa Joseph: Tender at the Brooklyn Museum’s Iris Cantor Plaza from June 6 through November 2. The installation will transform the museum’s outdoor plaza into a contemplative public space, featuring enlarged photographic reproductions of her needle-felted wool and recycled sari silk works.
Depicting quiet, everyday moments, like people embracing, cooking and resting, the images will be housed in hexagonal frames inspired by the 16th-century marble mosaics of Italy’s Siena Cathedral, a motif Joseph first encountered as an art student in 2001.
“There are always bad things happening and good things happening, and I just want people to take a break from the onslaught of sad news,” said Joseph. “Even for just thirty seconds, this is a chance to share something gentle and caring. I’m not ignoring the challenges—we just need moments of rest. We’re not meant to live in a constant state of trauma.”
Among her recent works is Olive’s Hair Salon (2023), also featured in the museum’s Brooklyn Artists Exhibition in 2024, which captures a moment of improvisational care during the COVID-19 pandemic, when Joseph’s niece attempted to cut her father’s hair. The piece exemplifies Joseph’s gift for elevating the everyday, infusing domestic life with quiet emotional depth.
While her art often centers on softness, Joseph’s journey into the field has been marked by resilience and self-discovery. A former textile designer and art teacher, she long gravitated toward creative work but initially placed stability over ambition. That changed in 2015 following the unexpected death of her father.
“He was only 68, and I was 35,” Joseph said. “I reassessed my goals and realized that if I only had thirty years left, I needed to spend them doing what I truly care about.”
That year, she left teaching and enrolled in the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts to pursue an MFA.
Since then, Joseph’s career has grown steadily, powered by community support and a deep commitment to her practice. “Somebody has to say, ‘Look at this person,’ and it has to come from someone people listen to,” she said. “There are so many factors in this world you can’t account for—timing, opportunity, visibility.”
That visibility has only continued to expand. As the fifth recipient of the Brooklyn Museum’s UOVO Prize, Joseph will present Tender as a solo outdoor exhibition and debut a 50-by-50-foot mural at UOVO’s Bushwick facility. Together, these two large-scale presentations extend her vision of tenderness and human connection beyond the museum walls and into the broader fabric of the borough.
“Her work is very intimate. You’re seeing people at birthday parties, hugging, cuddling, cooking for one another, just sharing space,” said Kimberli Gant, curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Brooklyn Museum. “Even though the figures are personal, the scenes speak to universal experiences. These are the tender moments we often overlook in real time but later recognize as beautiful in their simplicity.”
With Tender, Joseph invites New Yorkers to consider the acts of care that sustain us and the quiet rituals that make life meaningful. In a culture that often values speed, productivity and spectacle, her work is a reminder of the power in slowing down.
