What if weaving released untold stories? And how does textile art with such narrative yet abstract powers fit into contemporary art and its traditionally European systems? Joana’s conversation with contemporary artist Paula do Prado takes unexpected turns and spreads across at least 3 different continents–if not more. What influence did the lost language of the Charrúa people and her Uruguayan past and lineage have on her work? Or, rather, is it even possible to locate the intuitive, dreamt and compulsive patterns and figures that emerge from her fingers, without any preconceived sketches or pre-established patterns?
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This episode is a partnership with Worlding, a non-profit co-founded by our host, Joana P. R. Neves, in Elephant and Castle, London. Paula do Prado’s Residency is a proposal by Adelaide Bannerman / Never Done. The artist’s residency is supported by Creative Australia.
Paula do Prado is represented by Station Australia and is current a studio resident at Artspace, Woolloomoloo. Following her Worlding residency, Paula will hold her first institutional show as part of the Artspace x Art Gallery of New South Wales Co-Commission as part of the Contemporary Arts Project Space, Art Gallery of New South Wales 28 November 2026 to 14 February 2027. See more https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/whats-on/exhibitions/paula-do-prado/
To know more about Worlding, visit the website: www.worldingproject.com/
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Resources:
Conversation between Paula do Prado and Mónica Michelena: https://vimeo.com/835732257?fl=pl&fe=sh (Spanish)
Paula do Prado’s website (art / projects / workshops): www.studiodoprado.com
Jingle: "Wunder", experimental poem by Joana P. R. Neves.
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Created & Hosted by Dr. Joana P. R. Neves, art curator and writer with over 20 years of experience in the contemporary art field. Artistic director of Drawing Now Paris since 2018, she has worked across the industry, from the art market to education. She co-launched the art residency and project space Worlding in 2020. Exhibitionistas’ first year offered exhibition discussions with guest co-host Emily Harding; organically, it grew into a more experimental show exploring art topics, stories and interviews complemented by Joana’s publication Art Thinkosaurus on Substack. She champions ‘Art Wonderment’s’ embrace of complexity against the lure of ready-made opinions. A polyglot, she grew up in Lisbon, studied and lived in Paris, to finally settle in London with her artist husband, four children and two cats.
READ JOANA'S TEXTS:
Joana on Substack: https://joanaprneves.substack.com
Where you find the Exhibitionistas Files, our Newsletter
0:00 Intro: Partnership with Worlding and Never Done.
1:29 Introducing Paula do Prado.
2:13 Paula do Prado's Favourite Art Tool
7:11 Paula do Prado's unique use of crochet
19:49 Carrying and unearthing stories: a responsibility
24:30 Transmission: Textile and Story
32:23 The place of textile art in contemporary art
34:34 Is Paula do Prado's art syncretic?
46:23 Paula do Prado's chosen word in Charrúa
1:04:14 Weaving threads, behaviours and language
1:11:33 Weaving as story and history
1:23:20 Goodbye!!