Vaughan Melzer

Vaughan’s artwork reflects complicated life events: Born to a lone mother in 1945, a communist who passionately loved her absent communist Czech father - then living in East Germany with his wife and six children. At 12, her mother married a Nigerian; at 15, gained a beloved sister, Akwe; at 17, her family moved to Ibadan, Nigeria leaving Vaughan, applying to university.

Post university: a Social Worker for 14 years before studying Photography at PCL and becoming a Free-lance Photographer from 1989.

Vaughan became a mother in 1981, to William, and eventually found her deepest happiness in 2001 forming an unexpected attachment to Douglas Munro, a Scot, and someone she had known since she was a child. Her marriage to him brought her a sense of safety and deep happiness. He died Jan 2022, and these artworks are the beginning of a new project exploring the differing cultures, politics and emotions of her unconventional life.