Like many other Puerto Ricans, I lost everything after Hurricane Maria hit the isla nd last September 2017. I had to turn to my hands and to my eyes and to the most fundamental forces within me in order to face the times after the hurricanes and to reinvent myself creatively, spiritually and materially.

I am originally a “jibaro” (i.e.- man of the mountains in Taino language)- born and raised in the township of Adjuntas, a coffee grower/ agricultural town at the very top of the Cordillera Central, Puerto Rico’s highest mountain range. For more than 20 years, I lived in San Juan Metropolitan area, pained by a yearning I could not name. However, I was eager to explore my potentials as a visual artist and graphic designer.

Adjuntas could not offer me such opportunities for growth.

I studied visual arts and graphic design in Puerto Rico, travelled to Moroco, London, Madrid, Seville. I participated in expositions. I studied, explored and worked. Lived in Miami for a while.  Returned to Puerto Rico. Worked, explored more, and created more.

Then came the hurricanes.

Suddenly, I found myself living in Saint Thomas and Saint John, working in the reconstruction of these islands that perhaps suffered more the hits of the hurricanes Irma and Maria than the island I call home. It was then that I understood another aspect of what is to be a Caribbean and a Puerto Rican artist of African Descent; our deep connection to Nature as a force of destruction, dispersion and renewal.