Embajada presents Pablo Delano’s solo exhibition, “My Paradise is Hell,” to commemorate the gallery’s 10th anniversary. This is Delano’s first solo exhibition with the gallery, following his participation at the prestigious Venice Biennale 2024 in a show curated by Adriano Pedrosa. “My Paradise is Hell” opens at Embajada on October 11, 2025, with a walkthrough at 2:00pm and a reception at 6:00pm. It will be on view through January 17, 2026. Embajada is open on Fridays and Saturdays, from 3:00 to 7:00pm, and by appointment. It is located at 354 Fernando Primero Street, in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Description: Delano’s most recent work expands his exploration of Puerto Rico’s visual and colonial histories through a striking series of color photocompositions and assemblage sculptures created from found objects. In these new works, Delano juxtaposes vivid contemporary scenes from popular media—sparkling images of resorts, cruise ships, sun-drenched beaches, as well as humanitarian and environmental disasters—with black and white archival photographs that portray moments from the island’s colonial past. The resulting compositions reveal the tensions between the self-promoted image of Puerto Rico (and the Caribbean) as a tropical paradise and the persistent and complex realities of imperial domination. Through this multidimensional dialogue of images, Delano exposes how myths of paradise and progress continue to obscure deeper histories of exploitation, displacement, and resistance.
Interwoven among these photographic works are sculptural assemblages: salvaged, repurposed, and recontextualized objects, which engage in dialogue with each other to address the same themes. By placing worn relics of everyday life alongside her composite images, Delano creates new critical narratives that blur the boundaries between artifact and art. These sculptural interventions evoke the contradictions of museum display itself, inviting reflection on how objects are imbued with authority, memory, and meaning. With the wit and rigor that characterize her work, Delano transforms image and object into powerful tools for interrogating the legacies and contradictions of colonialism that persist in Puerto Rico’s contemporary landscape.
More information at info@embajada.com or (787) 220-1676.
[Shown above: Delano’s “Viajeros,” 2025.]