Mellorado is an old Spanish word that translates as ‘improved upon’, once used to describe people who inherited either money or property.
do Prado explains that her “grandmother Elsa always said ‘Lo que se hereda no se roba’, which means ‘what is inherited can’t be stolen – it’s in the blood’”.
do Prado’s work has long had a sentiment of political activism, fighting for the rights of the oppressed. True to the purpose of her art and activism, she feels “its no surprise that I have always understood my inheritance to be something innate, a spiritual sense of identity and belonging”.
Gallerysmith
March 15 to April 14, 2012
Paula do Prado, Un Gesto Ritual, and Mujer, and Why did you come here?, 2011,
acrylic on gourd, installation view. Courtesy the artist and Gallerysmith, Melbourne.
