Verónica Gaona (b. 1994) is a Mexican American artist from the Rio Grande Valley in South Texas. Gaona received an MFA in Studio Art - Photography from the University of Houston. Gaona was awarded the Latinx Fellowship Award (2023), the Chispa Award (2022) by the Andrew Mellon Foundation and Ford Foundation, and the Artadia Award (2021). Gaona attended the International Studio & Curatorial Program in Brooklyn, New York (2024), PAC Residency in Houston (2024), Lawndale Art Residency in Houston (2022-2023), DUST in Marfa (2019), and School Fine Arts De Nantes Saint-Nazaire in Nantes, France (2019). Gaona has exhibited work at El Museo del Barrio, Burlington City Arts, Lawndale Art Center, Blaffer Art Museum and Museum of Contemporary Art of Tamaulipas. Gaona’s work was featured in the Wyeth Lecture in American Art at the National Gallery of Art, presented by Roberto J. Tejada. In the summer of 2025, Gaona will attend the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture.