WILDFLOWER PLAYHOUSE PRESENTS

Flamenco:
A Taos Love Affair

Melissa Lind, Taos artist and flamenco dancer, presents her first solo show in Taos.

In 2013, Melissa Lind started dancing flamenco in Taos and, along with five other students, fell desperately in love with this heart-wrenching dance, where stomping one's feet in rage and yelling was mandatory. They vowed to dance flamenco in Taos until they were 90.

Flamenco, A Taos Love Affair is a series of photographs (2013-2016) documenting a close-knit group of Taos flamenco students, guided by instructors from Taos, Santa Fe, Spain, Germany, and Japan. The images capture the tactile lushness of flamenco—the skirts, shoes, makeup, hair, scarves, and lunares—highlighting moments of preparation and friendship. This series offers a glimpse into a rare, resilient community in Taos, reflecting flamenco's enduring spirit and the way people come together to survive, thrive, and create a sense of belonging.

Although most of them still live in Taos, motherhood, injuries and Covid dampened their momentum. These photographs mark tenuous moments in time.

Melissa Lind’s current work is shaped by 14 years living in Taos, NM, where she explores themes of working-class celebration, vernacular community, neuroplasticity and the struggle for growth. She uses photography, sculpture, and land art to capture the tenacity of life in northern New Mexico’s challenging environments.

Lind is drawn to niche Taos communities, their struggles to establish roots, and how this shapes the fabric of the community as a whole. While her work is deeply personal and rooted in a specific time and place, the themes it addresses—growth, togetherness, resilience, and nature—are universal, resonating with concerns many people grapple with.

Raised and educated in the American Southwest in a lower-middle-class family, Lind’s mother insisted their church was nature. These early influences heavily color Lind’s approach to art and the materials she uses: found objects, photography, glass, metal, wood, sand, rock, and vibrant color.

Lind practiced as a licensed landscape architect for a decade before founding and directing a creative agency for architects and builders, Dwelling Creative. Her architectural photos have been published in magazines and websites nationally and her fine art photography was recently chosen by SaveArtSpace.org to represent New Mexico on a billboard in New York City.

The Closing Reception is on Friday, January 10th, 2025 from 5-6pm with the artist in attendance. The exhibition runs December 5th - January 10th, 2025. The Wildflower Playhouse Gallery is located at 1339 Paseo Del Pueblo Sur, Taos, NM 87571 and is open during scheduled theater performances and by appointment.

The Wildflower Playhouse and Art Gallery is dedicated to fostering community through the arts. It provides a space for artists to connect, for free spirits to explore, and for all to learn and grow. Founded in 2019 by Jim Avery, the Playhouse features an 80-seat proscenium stage, complete with studio-quality sound and advanced lighting. Jim envisioned a performance arts venue that would serve the Taos community, offering a beautiful, intimate space where art and creativity are celebrated. The Wildflower Playhouse is a place for all who seek to shine under its lights.