The thread that sewed us together

Paola Mateo was a young, successful, multidisciplinary artist based in New York City when her grandmother fell ill in 2019.
Mateo credits her grandmother, Dulcila Moreta De Segura, for her faithfulness, artistry, and personhood. Segura fled the dictatorship in the Dominican Republic in 1970, moving first to Puerto Rico and then immigrating to the United States, where she would later live out her life in Reading, Pennsylvania.
Mateo, whose work is centered around exploring her Dominican heritage, returned to her hometown of Reading just before her grandmother died in 2019. Since then, her focus has shifted from making work full time to engaging children in the arts. Moving home kept Mateo connected to her family and her community, which allows her to carry on her grandmother's legacy.