bio
Paula do Prado is a visual artist working with various forms of tejido/weaving. Her practice surfaces the intersections of her African Bantu-Kongo, Iberian and Charrúan ancestral heritage. Her art practice is indivisible from her cultural and spiritual practice, her family and community relationships and the nature spirits (wetlands, rivers, salt and sweet water) and ancestral tree kin she is called to work with led by Lajau (Ombú), Jacaranda and Kapok.
She holds a BFA, First Class Honours (Textiles) and a MFA (Research) from the University of New South Wales Art & Design. This year her work will be included in A Soft Touch curated by Sophia Cai at Gallery 4A part and the 5th Tamworth Textile Triennial 2023 that will tour nationally until 2025. She is currently a PhD candidate at Sydney College of the Arts, University of Sydney and a member of the Sydney Indigenous Research Network.
She holds a BFA, First Class Honours (Textiles) and a MFA (Research) from the University of New South Wales Art & Design. This year her work will be included in A Soft Touch curated by Sophia Cai at Gallery 4A part and the 5th Tamworth Textile Triennial 2023 that will tour nationally until 2025. She is currently a PhD candidate at Sydney College of the Arts, University of Sydney and a member of the Sydney Indigenous Research Network.
cv
Paula Gabriela do Prado (aka PDP)
Born 1979, lands of the Charrúa Nation, Montevideo, Uruguay.
Arrived Australia 1986. Lives and works on unceded Gadigal Country
EDUCATION
2021- PhD candidate, The University of Sydney, Sydney College of the Arts (ongoing)
2012 Master of Fine Arts by Research, UNSW Art & Design
2009 Bachelor of Fine Arts (Honours 1st Class), UNSW Art & Design
2005-7 Bachelor of Fine Arts, UNSW Art & Design
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2023 Volver with Laura do Prado Martirena, Verge Projects
2021 Kuña/Womxn, Bankstown Arts Centre
2021 pallay yuyay: to gather, to remember, Verge Gallery
2020 Kalunga: Under the Sea with Tomas Marinangeli, Firstdraft Projects
2019 Iyanla, Shoalhaven Regional Gallery
2018 Playdate with Tomas Marinangeli, AIRspace Projects
2017 Bomba, AirSpace Projects
2014 Face to Face, Chasm Gallery
2014 Odalisque, Gallerysmith
2012 Mellorado, Gallerysmith
2010 Where Yah From?, Gallerysmith
2009 It’s a (bloody) good time to be Black, Gallerysmith
2008 Textiles, Gallerysmith
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2023 A Soft Touch, Gallery 4a (upcoming)
2023 Artists in Residence (AIR) 2022, Australian Tapestry Workshop
2023 Reading into Things, Pari Ari, Dharug Country
2022 Fisher's Ghost Art Proze Finalist exhibition
2022 Studio Creep, Backspace Gallery/SCASS
2022 Sub-Terrains, Bankstown Biennale, Bankstown Arts Centre
2022 Unicorn Butterfly, Katrina Brennan x PDP, Cement Fondu
2022 In the fibre of her being, Fairfield Museum and Gallery
2021 Lost & Found, Ambush Gallery, Waterloo
2021 Weaving Futures, The Australian Tapestry Workshop, South Melbourne
2020 The Space Within, Sabbia Gallery Redfern
2019 Place Makers, Australian Tapestry Workshop
2019 Knitted, Woven, Sewn, Maunsell Wickes at Barry Stern Galleries
2019 Breaking Ground, Seed Gallery Aotearoa
2019 Rijwick Textile Biennial, The Netherlands
2018 Blacktown City Art Prize Finalists Exhibition
2018 Interwoven with Kylie Walsh, New Moon Yanada Lewisham
2018 Nothing is as valuable as you, Peacock Gallery Auburn
2018 Seed Stitch Contemporary Textile Art Award, Australian Design Centre
2017 Self Made: artist zines and books, touring exhibition through State Library of Victoria
2016 The Charged Object, Gallery Lane Cove, North Sydney
2015 f generation: feminism, art, progressions, George Paton Gallery, Melbourne
2015 Linden Postcard Show, Linden New Art, St Kilda
2015 Not Singing: Poetics of Protest, Cross Art Books, Sydney
2015 Labours of Love: Australian Quilts 1850 - 2015, Hazelhurst Regional Arts Gallery
2015 Mythology of my land, M Contemporary Gallery, Sydney
2014 Unveiled, Gallerysmith Project Space, Melbourne
2013 National Artists Self Portrait Prize, UQ Art Museum
2013 Wangaratta Contemporary Textile Award, finalist
2013 Knit Knot Weave, Gallery Lane Cove, Sydney
2012 City of Hobart Art Prize, Finalist exhibition, Hobart
2012 Feminage: The Logic of Feminist Collage, Cross Art Projects, Sydney
2012 We Australians, MONow, No Vacancy Gallery, Melbourne
2011 Adiafa/Diyafa: The Gifts of Exchange with Nicole Barakat at Cross Art Projects, Sydney
2011 Global Backyard, Latrobe Regional Gallery
2011 Play, Textile Arts Centre Brooklyn, New York
2011 Art Object, IV International Biennial of Contemporary Textile Art, Mexico
2011 Tamworth Textile Triennial, national touring exhibition 2011-2013
2009 COFA Annual, Graduate show, Sydney
2009 Landscapes: A Journey Home in textiles, Kudos Gallery, Sydney
2008 Rebirth, Gallerysmith, North Melbourne
GRANTS, AWARDS & PRIZES
2022 Arthur Macquarie Travelling Scholarship, The University of Sydney
2020 Australian Tapestry Workshop Artist in Residence (undertaken in 2022)
2019 Blacktown City Art Prize, finalist
2019 Fisher's Ghost Art Award, finalist
2019 Woollahra Artist in Residence Studio Program
2018 Blacktown City Art Prize, finalist
2018 Winner Skein Sisters Yarn Innovation Award as part of SSCC Textiles Awards
2018 Seed Stitch Collective Contemporary (SSCC) Textiles Award finalist
2018 Little Things Art Prize, finalist
2018 Woollahra Artist in Residence Studio Program
2011 College of Fine Art Travel Grant
2010 Australian Postgraduate Award (APA) scholarship recipient
2009 TAFTA (The Australian Forum for Textile Arts Ltd) Workshop Award
SELECTED TEXTS
2022 Finding Form with Fibre, Ruth Woods
2021 Favour Economy, Sharing Alternative Value in the Arts, in Care Ethics and Art by Jacqueline Millner & Gretchen Coombs, Routledge.
2021 Connectedness, Jo Holder, Cross Art Projects
2021 Contemporary Art & Feminism by Jaqueline Milner and Catriona Moore, Routledge
2019 Garland Magazine https://garlandmag.com/loop/paula-do-prado/
2019 Textiel Plus www.textielplus.nl/artikelen/textiel-biennale-rijswijk-thema-txp-textiel-plus-248/
2017 Imprint Magazine (cover image), Print Council of Australia, Spring 2017 Vol 52 No.3
2017 Art Edit Magazine "One's To Watch" feature Winter issue
2017 Embroidery Magazine, UK "Culture, Country, Cloth" by Janet de Boer, September-October 2017, pp.33-37
2017 Citrine Magazine Pound: Print + Sound issue 001 http://citrinestudios.tictail.com/product/pound-print-sound-issue-001
2016 AnOther Magazine, Three Radical Female Collage Artists You Need to Know by Daisy Woodward, 19 July 2016
http://www.anothermag.com/art-photography/8849/three-radical-female-collage-artists-you-need-to-know
2016 Steadfast Arte, Artist interview with Chelsea Kozak http://www.steadfastarte.com/pauladoprado/
2015 Jamini International Arts Magazine, Australian Art Textiles: Passion, Collaboration and Cloth by Liz Williamson
2015 Double Mask, Book Machine/Artspace publication
2014 Artist Profile Magazine, Profile by Anna Madeleine, Issue 27, 2014, pp94-99
2013 Nikos Papastergiadis, Why Multiculturalism Makes People So Angry and Sad, in Future Leaders, p.18
2012 Mellorado 2012, Self-published catalogue ISBN:978-0-9872775-0-3
2012 The Age, Your Weekend: In the Galleries, Mellorado exhibition review by Dan Rule, Saturday Arts section 30 March
2011 Australian Art Collector, Issue 58, Oct-Dec 2011, p.201
2011 The Paperworks, Australian Book Arts Journal, Issue 6, September 2011
2009 Where Yah From? 2009, Self-published catalogue ISBN: 978-0-646-52078-0
SELECTED CONFERENCES, TALKS, WORKSHOPS
2022-23 Contemporary Weaving workshops at Spinifex Hill Studio, Kariyarra Country, South Hedland
2022 Make your own magical creature as part of Unicorn Butterfly, Cement Fondu
2022 Relievo: Relief crochet and coiling, Australian Tapestry Workshop
2021 Material Memory as part of pallay yuyay at Verge Gallery
2021 Mother Mind as part of Kuña/Womxn at Bankstown Arts Centre
2020 We are the mainstream, breakout session panelist for International Womxns Day 2020
2020 Bound Together experimental textile workshop, Blacktown Arts Centre
2019 Nudo, Australian Tapestry Workshop, South Melbourne
2018 Story Cloth, Fabric Collage Workshop, New Moon Yanada Community Space Lewisham
2018 Intergenerational Workshop, Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize Activities
2018 Viva America Latina Festival Community Art Space 27 Oct
2018 School Holiday Craft Activities, Woollahra (Double Bay) and Paddington Libraries
2018 Making Time workshop, with Alex Falkiner, AIRspace Projects Marrickville
2018 Art Thursdays Radio Interview, Eastside Radio with Maisy Stapleton
2018 Crochet + Soft sculpture, Kafe as Poume, Inner West Festival
2018 Collaborative making, Woollhara Council Staff workshop
2017 Soft Sculpture Workshop, Totem Road, Sydney
2016 Writing an Artist Statement, CV and Bio, ATASDA
2016 Panel Discussion “Hard vs Soft” Gallery Lane Cove
2016 Soft Sculpture and Toy making, Gallery Lane Cove
2015 Paper objects and wearables, ATASDA
2015 Paper Sculpture, Primrose Paper Arts Inc
2014 Paper Sculpture + Soft Sculpture, Woollahra Council /Small Sculpture Prize
2013 Collaborative Mark Making, Ngala Mai pARenT group
2013 Paper Folding, Woollahra Council /Small Sculpture Prize
2013 Crochet Workshop, Gallery Lane Cove
2012 Crochet Workshop, Gaffa Gallery
2012 Artist Talk “Almas Gemelas/Twin Souls”, RMIT Gallery
2011 Artist Talk + “Gifts of Exchange” workshop, Cross Art Projects
2011 Artist Talk “Almas Gemelas/Twin Souls” Tamworth Regional Gallery
2011 Conference paper “Writing from the margin: Letters of Resistance” presented at Picture This: Postcards and Letters Beyond text University of Sussex, Brighton, UK
2011 Departamento 20, Radio Interview 1050AM Uruguay, 20 January
OTHER POSITIONS
2021 - Member, Sydney Indigenous Research Network, The University of Sydney
2021 - Phd candidate, Sydney College of the Arts, University of Sydney
2019 - Guest Artist, Studio A
2018 - 2019 Committee member AIRspace Projects Inc, Marrickville
2010-2014 Casual Lecturer (Textiles), UNSW Art & Design
COLLECTIONS
Private collections Australia wide and overseas. Ford Land Company, Blacktown Art Centre, State Library of Victoria, World Textile Art USA.
