Ethereal Emergence at Tredegar

photography

30 x 20 inches

Courtesy of The Artist

Guest Curated by Ashley Kistler

Ethereal Emergence at Tredegar is a foundational piece in Pedro Ledesma III's artistic trajectory. Created in 2016, this image anchored his breakthrough series, The Last Days of Summer, which won critical acclaim at FotoWeek DC and was exhibited at the National Geographic Headquarters in Washington, D.C.

The photograph captures a deeply personal turning point. Following his tenure as an economist with the World Bank, Pedro first visited Richmond in 2011 specifically to see a Picasso exhibition at the VMFA. Five years later, after completing his first formal photography studies at the International Center of Photography in New York, a strong gravitational pull drew him back to the James River. He spent that Labor Day weekend capturing the moments of contemporary Americana that make the city so dear, and relocated to Richmond shortly after.

Visually, the piece contains the early DNA of Pedro's current conceptual practice. The heavy, industrial ironwork of the Tredegar bridge-steeped in dense national history-acts as a rigid frame for a fleeting, ethereal moment of youth and leisure. It is an early visual audit of how history physically looms over the daily lives of local communities.

Today, this photograph stands as a poetic, full-circle milestone: the city and museum that so profoundly impacted his early artistic journey in 2011 is the very same institution that has proudly named him a 2025-2026 VMFA Professional Fellow.

Since committing to his fine art practice in 2018, Pedro has secured major institutional backing and rapid acclaim. In addition to being named a 2025-2026 Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA) Professional Fellow, he is the winner of the prestigious 2024 Trawick Grand Prize. His 2025 solo exhibition in Washington D.C. was curated by Dr. Brandon Fortune, former Chief Curator of the National Portrait Gallery, and he is currently preparing his next major institutional solo exhibition, The Promissory Note: A Visual Audit of the American Dream, premiering at Frostburg State University in August 2026. Pedro's work has also been featured in the Virginia MOCA Biennial and is held in the permanent collection of the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities.