Perla Cautiva (Captive Pearl)

15"x30’"
Graphite and mixed media on wood panel
2026

"Perla Captiva (Captive Pearl) is part of the Dividing Goddesses series, where Caribbean bodies are pierced by ornamental armatures that mark sharp scars of struggle while regrowing roots of crayon and epoxy. The Pearl Queen emerges from a cage opening between two drawings. The pearl, an exploited good, becomes a piercing of power as the crab turns into a crown. Though the figure appears in a trance, awakened forces resist the residue of history."

Pedro Troncoso (b.1996, Dominican Republic) is a New York–based artist whose work layers erased narratives into dreamlike spaces where blurred identities confront colonial impact. In the fragile space between ancestry and autonomy, his work asks: how much of our heritage are we willing to negotiate or rebuild? He earned his BFA in Illustration at Parsons School of Design after formative studies at Altos de Chavón, La Escuela de Diseño (DR), and holds an MFA in Fine Arts from the New York Academy of Art. His work has been shown at the 29th and 31st Dominican Biennials, NADA, Art Central Hong Kong, ComplexCon, and the AXA Art Prize, with additional exhibitions in New York, Los Angeles, Hong Kong, Puerto Rico, and Beijing. His practice has been profiled in Blanc Magazine, Whitewall, Artlyst, New American Paintings, among others.