Paula do Prado

Paula do Prado is a full time artist based in Sydney whose practice engages with textiles, collage, painting, soft objects and text. Born in Montevideo, Uruguay, do Prado emigrated to Australia in 1986. Her work explores identity in relation to authenticity, privilege and belonging. In particular she draws on her mixed European and Afro-Uruguayan heritage to investigate the politics of experience as a migrant living on stolen land. Intertwining past and present, notions of home and away, real and imagined, her work often uses the decorative including pattern, colour and texture to create multiple layers of meaning. Many of her chosen materials are reclaimed, gifted or collected on her travels and play a significant role in the conceptual narrative of the work. Masks, doll like bodies and cloth murals emblazoned with text in Spanish and English are recurring elements in Paula’s work referencing the African diaspora and Latin American traditions in protest and resistance art. As a woman of colour and feminist, she has a specific interest in retrieving and reinserting invisible, forgotten or otherwise unknown personal and collective histories back into contemporary thought and dialogue.

Paula holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Textiles) with First Class Honours and a Master of Fine Arts from Art & Design at the University of New South Wales. She has held several solo shows in Melbourne and Sydney and taken part in various group exhibitions in Australia and overseas.  She has previously lectured in Textiles at UNSW Art & Design and now continues to facilitate a range of independent art workshops.