Flight of the Battery Hens

Melissa Clements

Melissa Clements is completing her year at PS as part of the Studio 7 Residency program for 2024. Flight of the Battery Hen is her much anticipated end of residency show.

Melissa is a 26-year-old fine artist specialising in classical figurative painting.

She has a Bachelor of Philosophy (Hons) in Art History and Philosophy from the University of Western Australia and has received classical training from The New York Academy of Art and the National Art School. During her residency, she travelled to Svalbard in the High Arctic, to develop a new body of work that explores dualities of the human condition as avenues to make sense of being alive in the contemporary world.

Flight of the Battery Hens marks the bold new direction for Melissa. At just 26, Melissa Clements is conining classical oil painting and modern sensibility. A finalist for some of Australia’s most prestigious art prizes, including the Archibald, Clements has earned a reputation for her technical mastery and profound insight into the human condition.

This anticipated solo exhibition offers a deep exploration of freedom, resilience, and the human spirit’s unyielding drive for transcendence. With each piece, Clements delves into the complexities of love and violence, confinement and liberation, using realism to tell stories that resonate with the challenges of the modern world.

A culmination of the Studio 7 Residency at PS Art Space, Flight of the Battery Hens is a reflection of Clements's connection to the Fremantle community, her expeditions to the High Arctic and her ancestral bond to the English countryside as avenues to explore the complexities of the human condition.

Join us for an immersive experience where timeless artistic techniques meet contemporary vision. Flight of the Battery Hens isn’t just an exhibition; it’s an invitation to reconsider your own boundaries and embrace the transformative power of art.


The show opens on Friday January 17th 6:30-9pm


Official welcome from 7pm - entertainment and refreshments from 6:30pm

The exhibition will be open from the 18th to the 31st of January Tue-Sun 10-4pm.