In the beginning of her career, most of Miller's paintings consisted of lively, high-colored expressions of animals in their natural habitats. By the mid-1980s, however, her works took on a fantasy life that deepened their sense of purpose and emotional impact. As the artist has written: "Since 1985, there has been a shift in my paintings from an external observation of the human condition to an internal dialogue about the psyche.... Though individual animals are still the main protagonists in my paintings, they now interact with humanoids, angels, demons and spirits. In all the paintings, symbols and characters are carefully considered. I often use western cultural symbols of angels and devils to personify good and evil."4

Nowhere is this more evident than in her painting entitled Broken Wing. Drawn from imagery associated with Dutch fantasists such as Albrecht Altdorfer, the Brueghels, and Hieronymus Bosch, Miller paints a scene in which the fate of a white swan is sealed by its threatening surroundings. A powerful image of death triumphant, the figure of a lascivious-looking demon holds the majestic bird in its grip, while a host of hobgoblins emerges from a nearby wood to close in for the kill. Like a saint in swan's clothing, the central figure arches its neck to the sky with both wings outspread in what appears to be a final trumpeted call across a desolate marsh. Whether it is read as a deeply personal statement by the artist or carries with it a larger social message about our fate in this world, Miller's Broken Wing reveals a sense of beauty in utmost peril.

4 Melissa Miller, Artist Statement, in Melissa Miller (New York: Holly Solomon Gallery, 1995), 1.