Josefina Mellado
Saying yes when you mean no (2023)
Installation and drawings on paper, variable dimensions
This installation by Josefina Mellado comprises drawings on paper, textile, sculpture and found objects which the artist figures as a ‘non-linear book’. Mellado came to craft, textile and macramé after a period of illness where working in sculpture became too heavy for the body. During this period, the artist was grappling with dealing with and healing from trauma and illness, distinguishing between reality and delusion and acclimating to creating work with limited use of the body.
Now in better health, Mellado continues to expand upon the themes and mediums that she honed during her illness, untangling the thoughts and experiences that came to her whilst sick. The work presented here unpacks some of the things that happened, images that came to her while impaired and ‘recipes’ for how she dealt with trauma.
Josefina Mellado is a visual artist based in Santiago, Chile. She works with colour and its relationship with architecture, specifically using painting and installation media. At the same time, she runs her own independent art space (Fundacionmeteoro.cl). Their mission is to provide a friendly place for artists to develop their work, while engaging with the 10 de Julio neighbourhood in downtown Santiago.
In 2019 there was a social outburst in Chile, which consisted in many great riots. The feminist movement took a fundamental role in those raids during the outburst.
Since then Josefina has been building spaces with a hyper feminine approach and investigating concepts that are misjudged by architecture due to their relationship with the feminine: such as colour, decorations and domesticity.