IT’S ME, MELANIE Life is too short; no time for fussing and fighting, my friends
While most teens are enjoying their young days, Melanie Greis, a 22-year-old German Lisu artist, has been learning the truth about life since she suffered a spinal disc herniation a few years ago. She recently explored her realisation - that life is short - through her first art exhibition, titled ‘Born To Die’.
AN ARTIST IS BORN It all started from a wonderful love story between Melanie’s parents. Her father was a retired German man who moved to Chiang Mai and joined a tour to visit a hilltribe village at Doi Lan, in Chiang Mai. The man fell in love at first sight with a beautiful Lisu girl and asked her parents for permission to tie the knot.
“At that time, there was no paved road to the village. But my father kept visiting my mother’s family until she was 19 and allowed to get married, said Melanie.” “I was born not too long after that and grew up there, before moving to Chiang Mai to study.”
However, they refused, saying the girl was too young and told him he must wait several years. Truly in love, the man waited until she was old enough. Then, wedding bells rang and the couple settled down in a house on top of the hill.