for those who do not return in life, there is always death A performance by Verónica Gaona

Lawndale is thrilled to host a live performance by our 2022/2023 Artist Studio Program participant, Verónica Gaona, in collaboration with DiverseWorks.

for those who do not return in life, there is always death/para aquellos que no regresan en vida, siempre está la muerte
Parking Lot at Lawndale Art and Performance Center
4912 Main Street., Houston, TX, 77002
Saturday, October 15, 6:30 pm SHARP

for those who do not return in life, there is always death is an hour-long performance by Verónica Gaona featuring a Ford F150 and Latinx funerary practices to explore the realities and experiences of the body within a transnational landscape. The performance invites audiences to reflect on ideas related to traslados (transfers), an act of remittance of cadavers over long distances– usually borders, in preparation for final burial in their home country.

Commissioned by DiverseWorks as part of Sites of Memory (2023), Houston. Co-presented by Lawndale Art & Performance Center.

Featured Image: Verónica Gaona, para aquellos que no regresan en vida, siempre está la muerte (homenaje a David Gomez) / For those who do not return in life, there is always death (homage to David Gomez), F150 truck burnout performance, 2021. Photo: Junior Fernandez.

Born to working class Mexican migrants, Verónica Gaona (b. 1994) is an interdisciplinary artist from Brownsville, Texas, a city along the Texas – México border landscape, who is now living and working in Houston. Gaona received a Master of Fine Arts in Studio Art from the University of Houston and a Bachelor of Arts in Mass Communications from The University of Texas at Rio Grande Valley. In 2021, she was the recipient of the national Artadia Award. In 2022, Gaona participated in the Monumentality in Art: Memory, History, and Impermanence in Diaspora panel at the CAA conference in Chicago and participated in the Engaging Latinx Art: National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Institute at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston. Currently, she is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Houston and is a 2022-2023 Lawndale Artist Studio Program artist-in-residence.