Melanie Scholtz is a South African born, Multi Award winning jazz singer, composer and visual artist. She has released 6 albums under her own name and has toured professionally internationally for the past 24 years. She has toured with Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Centre Orchestra in the 2019/20 season and has performed alongside Kurt Elling ,Bobby McFerrin and Hugh Masekela.
Her visual arts persona , The Silver Lining Activist , was born out of her move to New York City in 2017 and living in the very arty and punky East Village. Influenced by Basquiat, Warhol, Haring and so many of the greats who lived on her block. Mixed media collage , analogue and now digital became her main tangible artistic expression. The art form of collage opened up another world for Melanie and provided her with a sanctuary to find some peace in the concrete jungle of New York City. The threads between music and art are indelibly linked in her work.
Her art possesses a strong feminist and African slant. Paying homage to her African Heritage and seeing the world through African eyes.