Mélissa Longpré translates her sensory relationship to biodiversity and the land by way of a practice comprising photography, drawing and writing. The book medium is one of her favourite spaces for artistic creation. Her research draws on the collection and observation she carries out in the natural and urban environment. Her explorations take root in the selected territories she travels across and where she is on the lookout for recurrent as well as anomalous phenomena. In the manner of a naturalist, she documents and gathers natural specimens and found objects, which she uses as a raw material to create compositions and installations. She identifies the forms that may be extracted and those that may be transformed. She seeks to reveal the unnoticed, to pique our curiosity before the minuscule and familiar, as well as to sharpen our attentiveness to living beings.

Originally from Carleton-sur-Mer, Mélissa now lives in Montréal. She holds a certificate in Visual Arts (UQÀM 2001) and a B.A. in Graphic Design (UQÀM 2004). Her work has been disseminated as part of individual and group shows in Québec and in France. In 2020, she self-published the book of photographs Aux embouchures which was part of the exhibition L'édition comme finalité overseen by the Rencontres internationales de la photographie en Gaspésie, presented in Montréal and Nantes. She received support from the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec et du Conseil des arts du Canada for research and creation projects and residencies