VERÓNICA GAONA
Based in Houston, Texas gaonaveronica.com @vero.gaona.art vgaona94@gmail.com
EDUCATION
2021 M.F.A. Studio Art – Photography and Digital Media, University of Houston
2018 B.A. Mass Communication – Print Journalism, The University of Texas at Rio Grande Valley
RESIDENCIES/ INSTITUTES
2024 International Studio & Curatorial Program, nominated by Jamal Cyrus, Brooklyn, New York
P.A.C. Art Residency, Houston, Texas Flowershop Residency, Brownsville, Texas
2023 Lawndale Art Center Artist Studio Program Residency, Houston, Texas
2022 NEH Engaging Latinx Art: Summer Institute for Higher Education Faculty, MFAH, Houston, Texas
Lawndale Art Center Artist Studio Program Residency, Houston, Texas
2019 Desert Unit for Speculative Territories Residency, Marfa, Texas School Fine Arts De Nantes Saint-Nazaire, Nantes, France
AWARDS/FELLOWSHIPS/GRANTS
2024 Vision Fund, International Studio & Curatorial Program, nominated by Jamal Cyrus, juried by Anuradha Vikram and TK Smith, Brooklyn, New York
2023 Latinx Artist Fellowship Award, The US Latinx Art Forum, Mellon Foundation, Ford Foundation, Jurors: Rodrigo Moura, chief curator, El Museo del Barrio; Mari Carmen Ramírez, Wortham Curator of Latin American Art and Director International Center for the Arts of the Americas, at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Marianne Ramirez Aponte, executive director and chief curator, MAC Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Puerto Rico; Maria Gaspar, interdisciplinary artist based in Chicago, IL; Lucia Hierro, sculpture and installation artist based in New York, NY; Consuelo Jimenez Underwood, contemporary fiber artist based in Gualala, CA; and Josie Lopez, head curator, Albuquerque Museum
2022 Chispa Award, The US Latinx Art Forum, Mellon Foundation, Ford Foundation
2021 2021 Houston Artadia Award, Jurors: Natalie Dupêcher, Assistant Curator of Modern Art at the Menil Collection; María Elena Ortiz, Curator at the Pérez Art Museum Miami; Jami Powell, Curator of Indigenous Art at the Hood Museum of Art at Dartmouth College; and PJ Gubatino Policarpio, Manager of Youth Development at Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco Third Place Award, Rising Eyes of Texas, Rockport Center for the Arts, Juror: Rigoberto Luna Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts Scholarship
2020 Neta Fund, Neta Graduate Scale It Up!, University of Houston
2019 School of Art Graduate Travel Grant, University of Houston
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
2025 Affiliate Faculty (Forthcoming), University of Houston, Houston, Texas
2024 Affiliate Faculty, Houston Community College, Houston, Texas
2023 Affiliate Faculty, University of Houston, Houston, Texas
2022 Affiliate Faculty, University of Houston, Houston, Texas Teaching Artist, FotoFest, Houston, Texas
2021 Affiliate Faculty, University of Houston, Houston, Texas Art Instructor, Art League Houston, Texas
2020 Teaching Fellow (Teacher of Record), University of Houston, Houston, Texas
2019 Teaching Fellow (Teacher of Record), University of Houston, Houston, Texas Graduate Assistant, FotoFest, Houston, Texas
2018 Instructional Assistant, University of Houston, Houston, Texas
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2023 Sigo Tumbado, Sigo Coronando, Lawndale Art Center, Houston, Texas
2022 In Search of a Better Death, Presa House, San Antonio, Texas
2021 Para Aquellos que no Regresan en Vida, Elgin Street Gallery, Houston, Texas
2016 Dios Nunca Muere, Carlotta K. Petrina Cultural Center, Brownsville, Texas
SELECTED SMALL GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2026 Title to be determined (Forthcoming), International Studio & Curatorial Program, Curator: Melinda Lang, Brooklyn, New York
2024 Here Now: Art and Migration, Burlington City Arts, Curators: Heather Ferrell and Dr. Sarah Rogers, Burlington, Vermont
2022 Sites of Memory, MATCH Gallery, Diverse Works, Curator: Ashley DeHoyos, Houston, Texas Paisajes Impermanentes, Cothren Contemporary Gallery, Houston Texas
SELECTED LARGE GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2025 Ya Hecho: Readymade in the Borderlands (Forthcoming), Tucson Museum of Art, Curator: Rigoberto Luna, Tucson, Arizona
ISCP’s 30th Anniversary Benefit Auction (Forthcoming), Almine Rech Gallery, New York, New York
2024 Flow States - LA TRIENAL 2024, El Museo Del Barrio, Curators: Rodrigo Moura, Susanna V. Temkin, Maria Elena Ortiz, New York, New York
2023
Son de Allá son de Acá, Chicano Park Museum and Cultural Center, Curators: Rigoberto Luna, Christian Ramírez, Vicente Telles, Ricardo Islas, San Diego, California
Ahorita, Charlie James Gallery, Curator: Ever Velasquez, Los Angeles, California
Habitar Tierras Fronterizas, San Benito Cultural Heritage Museum, Curator: Javier Dragustinovis and Aleida Garcia Wedgworth, San Benito, Texas
2022 Son de Allá son de Acá, Albuquerque, New Mexico
Curator: Rigoberto Luna
Habitar Tierras Fronterizas, Museo De Arte Contemporáneo De Tamaulipas, Curator: Javier Dragustinovis, Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico
Waltz Across Texas, Presa House Gallery, Curator: Rigoberto Luna
2021 4 Encuentro de Video, Umbral Espacio de Arte, Curators: Paula Doberti and Debora Kirnos
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Unmasked Navigating the Post Pandemic Landscape, TASA, Juried: Rigoberto Luna, Junction, Texas
Across, Urban Arts Center, Curator: Jose Villalobos, Dallas, Texas
Biennial-600: Justice-Equality-Race-Identity, Amarillo Museum of Art, Curator: Leslie Moody Castro, Amarillo, Texas
¡Se Ha Dicho!, Austin Central Public Library Gallery, Curator: Michael Anthony Garcia, Austin, Texas
The Big Show, Lawndale Art Center, Juror: Cecilia Fajardo-Hill, Houston, Texas
43rd MFA Thesis Exhibition, Blaffer Art Museum, Curator: Steven Maticjio, Houston, Texas
Rising Eyes of Texas, Rockport Center for the Arts, Juror: Rigoberto Luna, Corpus Christi, Texas
Detention Nation, Blaffer Art Museum, Curator: Delilah Montoya, Houston, Texas
2020 Assuming the Pose, Third Space Gallery, Houston, Texas
Where We Are, Art League Houston, Curator: Sarah Beth Wilson, Houston, Texas
2019 Encuentro Frontera, Carlotta K. Petrina Cultural Center, Brownsville, Texas
WOW, Fieldwork: Marfa, Marfa, Texas
UH School of Art Annual Student Exhibition, Blaffer Art Museum, Houston, Texas
Migration Nation, MECA, Houston, Texas
Nueva Visión de Nuestra Cultura, Third Space Gallery, Houston, Texas
Equilibrio, Community Artists’ Collective, Curated: Tina Hernandez, Houston, Texas
Mujer-eres International Art Exhibition, B&E Art Studio, Curator: Melissa Vega, Brownsville, Texas
2018 Bloodlines, Third Space Gallery, Houston, Texas
Journey to Aztlán, Gaddis Geeslin Gallery, Curator: Ashley Dehoyos, Huntsville, Texas
Binational Expo: Icons and Symbols, BMFA, Curated: Diana Molina and Alejandro Macias, Brownsville, Texas
2017 Grey Space – Immigration, Oak Cliff Cultural Center, Dallas, Texas
2016 Juried Student Show, Rusteburg Art Gallery, Juror: Alejandro Macias, Brownsville, Texas
2015 Nueve (9), Galeria 409, Brownsville, Texas
Downtown 78520, BAM, Brownsville, Texas
PERFORMANCES / COLLABORATIVE WORKSHOPS
2022 Para aquellos que no regresan en vida, siempre está la muerte, DiverseWorks, Houston, Texas
2021 The Day I Return Back, Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts, Houston, Texas
Para aquellos que no regresan en vida, siempre está la muerte, Mary’s Naturally and Station Museum of Contemporary Art, Houston, Texas
2019 Here, Ahora: Houston, Latinx, Queer Artists, Art League Houston, Houston, Texas Anatomía de Nuestra Tierra, performance workshop led by Awilda Rodríguez-Lora, Houston, Texas
2018 Performance workshop led by Francisco “Pancho” Lopez, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Tamaulipas, Mexico
CONFERENCES / ARTISTS TALKS
2024 Visiting Artist, College of Fine Arts, The University of Texas at Rio Grande Valley, Brownsville, Texas
Artists at Work: Verónica Gaona in conversation with Alex Santana, International Studio, and Curatorial Program, Brooklyn, New York
X as Intersection, Moderators: Mari Carmen Ramirez, Wortham Curator of Latin American Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and Director, of the International Center for the Arts of the Americas, and Marina Reyes Franco, Curator, MAC Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Puerto Rico, Artist Panelist: Veronica Gaona, Joiri Minaya, Sofia Gallisá Muriente and Diana Solis, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and MAC Arte Contemporáneo de Puerto Rico, Virtual
Soy de Tejas Panel Discussion, Moderator: Rigoberto Luna, Artist Panelist: Angel Cabrales, Arely Morales, Verónica Gaona and Alex Macias, Arts Fort Worth, Fort Worth, Texas
P.A.C. Art Residency Conversations, Moderators: Alberto Ríos de la Rosa and Rosa Ana Orlando, Artist Panelist: Marisol Valencia and Verónica Gaona, Houston, Texas
2023 Artist Conversation for Sigo Tumbado, Sigo Coronando with Roberto Tejada, Lawndale Art Center, Houston, Texas
2022 Día de Los Muertos: Contemporary Justice Contexts in the U.S., Northwestern University, Latina and Latino Studies Department, Evanston, Illinois
Visiting Artist, College of Fine Arts, The University of Texas at Rio Grande Valley, Edinburg, Texas
Monumentality in Art: Memory, History, and Impermanence in Diaspora, CAA Conference, Visual Presentation: Ephemeral Monuments - In Search of a Better Future Chairs: Patricia Eunji Ki, Monument Lab and Marica Antonucci, Johns Hopkins University, Chicago, Illinois
2021 UH School of Art 43rd Annual MFA Thesis Exhibition, Houston, Texas
Para aquellos que no regresan, Elgin Street Gallery, Houston, Texas
2020 Where We Are, Art League Houston, Houston, Texas
2019 Here, Ahora: Houston, Latinx, Queer Artists, Art League Houston, Houston, Texas
Equilibrio, Community Artists’ Collective, Houston, Texas
CURATORIAL
2020 Gestos Locales, D Emptyspace (Virtual Exhibition), Brownsville, Texas
2019 Pedagogies of Crossing, Megamorphosis, Harlingen, Texas
2017 Raíces del Cuerpo Workshop led by Rogelio Melendez, Carlotta K. Petrina Cultural Center, Brownsville, Texas
CATALOGUES / LECTURES / INTERVIEWS / MENTIONS / PUBLICATIONS
2024 Flow States - LA TRIENAL 2024 Catalogue, Edited by Rodrigo Moura, María Elena Ortiz, and Susanna V. Temkin and Yxta Maya Murray ARTnews, “El Museo del Barrio Names Artist List for Its 2024 Triennial, with an Expanded, Global Focus”, Maximilíano Durón Artsy, “33 Latinx artists are selected for El Museo del Barrio’s 2024 triennial” Josie ThaddeusJohns
2023 National Gallery of Art, Latinx Art and the Intimacy of Dislocation, Wyeth Lecture in American Art, Roberto Tejada Mellon Foundation, “US Latinx Art Forum Announces New Latinx Artist Fellows”, USLAF Glasstire, “The U.S. Latinx Art Forum Announces 2023 Latinx Artist Fellows”, Jessica Fuentes
2022 Critical Storytelling from the Borderlands. Ed. Julio Enríquez-Ornelas & Carmella Braniger. Brill Sense Publishers, Netherlands Houston Chronicle, “Houston’s Verónica Gaona talks death, diaspora, and truck burnouts in Lawndale show”, Jef Rouner
2021 POCa Madre Media, “¡Se Ha Dicho!” , Michael Anthony García Voyage Houston, “Daily Inspiration: Meet Verónica Gaona”, News Desk Deep Red Press, “In Search of a Better Death”, Brenda Edith Franco Texas Monthly, “The Past and Future of One Houston’s Most Historic Gay Bars”, Ivan Guzman The Architectural League NY, “American Roundtable: Brownsville Undercurrents, Texas”, News Desk Shoutout HTX, “Verónica Gaona: Educator and Artist”, News Desk
2020 Hyperallergic, “Master Students Choose the University of Houston” News Desk
2016 El Nuevo Heraldo, Fotografa de Brownsville le rinde homenaje a Oaxaca, News Desk
COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
2024 Artist Advisory Board Member, Art League Houston, Houston, Texas
2023 Artist Advisory Board Member, Art League Houston, Houston, Texas Juror, The Summer Studios Stages, Project Row Houses, Houston, Texas Artist Choice Grant, Ruth Foundation for the Arts
2020 Volunteer, Society for Photographic Education Conference, Houston, Texas
2019 Volunteer, Experimental Action Festival, Houston, Texas The Loop, Project Row Houses, Houston, Texas
2017 Organizer, Raices del Cuerpo - A Video Performance Workshop, Carlotta K. Petrina Cultural Center, Brownsville, Texas