2022 MECCA Holiday Collaboration

Nadia Hernández’s work brings together political narratives and family stories. Working across painting, drawing, sculpture, and textiles, she creates colourful and dynamic installations that speak to her identity as part of the Latinx diaspora.

In this body of works, Hernández takes the advice shared with her in a letter from her mother – ‘sensibles dueños de nuestra felicidad’ (each of us are the ‘sensible owners of our happiness’) – to explore the disruptive political climate of her home country and her experience as a diasporic Latinx woman. She draws elements from recorded conversations with her grandparents in Venezuela, and seeks to preserve familial rituals, recipes and stories within components of her work.

Hernández was born in Venezuela and lives and works in Sydney. Hernández was a finalist in the inaugural Ellen José Art Awards (2022) and has been a Create NSW Visual Arts Emerging Fellow (2020). She was commissioned to develop an immersive educational program and exhibition as Shepparton Art Museum’s EduLAB artist (2020) and was a recipient of the Bundanon Trust Artist in Residence (2019). In 2019, Hernández was the winner of the 2019 Churchie National Emerging Art Prize, one of Australia’s leading prizes for emerging artists. Her work has featured in a number of group and solo exhibitions, including the Macfarlane Commissions exhibition at the Australian Centre for Contemporary art in 2022.

The NGV warmly thanks MECCA for supporting the acquisition of these works.