Melanie Asalde-Smith was born in California to a graphic designer from Peru and a professor from Michigan. She spent the formative years of her childhood in Las Vegas, where the spectacles and simulations skewed her concept of reality. Perpetually caught between the real and unreal, her recent creative output explores the intersection between technology and perception.

She received her Bachelor’s in Studio Art from California State University, San Bernardino in 2017, with a concentration on painting. Asalde-Smith completed her Master’s of Fine Art degree in Spring of 2022. She lives and works in Southern California, never far from a screen.