Mercedes de Bellard portrays disability for the first time to demand inclusion

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Mercedes de Bellard is an artist from Jaén whose works focus on very human portraits with warm colours and a technique that combines graphic design and illustration. She rose to fame in 2018 as the creator of the posters for the San Isidro Fair in Madrid and since then her commissions have multiplied. However, she had never dealt with the subject of disability and inclusion until last year when she was immersed in the Adecco Foundation's Ability Week 2020 project. In it, she was commissioned to portray six people with disabilities who, with their testimony, seek to vindicate their social and work inclusion.

The presence of disabilities in the world of art and culture is still very rare, so these works take on a value not only artistic, but also sensitizing: they are a call to discover beauty also through people with disabilities, whose japan phone number data looks, feelings and dignity are just as valuable as those of any other person.

We spoke to Mercedes about this project and her professional career.

Mercedes, when did your love for drawing begin?





I have always drawn, ever since I was very little. My father always encouraged me to draw and paint, so much so that when I grew up I decided to study fine arts.



Where do you find inspiration?

Almost everywhere. I'm always saving images and taking pictures of almost everything that I find beautiful at first glance, whether it's a shape, a color palette, a photo of a person, everything is useful when it comes to creating.

Who were your role models? Any with disabilities?

Wow, I have so many references. But to name some of the classics, Gustav Klimt, Manet, Van Gogh, the Pre-Raphaelites, and so on.