Living in Puerto Rico as someone who is not originally from here, I've often felt both welcomed and out of place. I've thought a great deal about what it means to become part of a community—to listen, to care, to start a family here, and to make work honestly from where I stand. Loving a place while coming from somewhere else isn't always a simple thing to hold at once.
The Pisces series helped me make sense of this.
Long before formal language, people made marks, repeated shapes, and told stories through images to understand themselves and the world around them. That impulse still feels deeply human and much of this exhibition grew from that instinct.
The series began with a collection of small black paintings I came to call Icaros del Mar. They arrived before I understood where the work was heading, as though they had been waiting to be made. I started thinking of them as visual songs or signals—geometric forms, symbols, fragments, and complete worlds existing at the same time. Some viewers have connected them to the imagery of ayahuasca ceremonies. While they weren't intended to depict any specific ritual, they did emerge from a period of trying to better understand myself. In that sense, they became a kind of personal ritual.
From there, the world expanded through the paintings and so did my understanding of belonging and community. Small yellow fish appeared first, followed by turtles, rays, sharks, whales, birds, and other creatures gradually began to inhabit the island. Some images feel spiritual, others intuitive. Some are playful, while others ask quieter questions about identity, transformation, and connection.
Although Pisces II is rooted in my own experience, I hope it points toward something more universal. We all search for patterns. We all invent symbols. We all try to make sense of who we are, where we belong, and how we relate to one another. These paintings are an invitation to slow down, to look closely, and perhaps to recognize a small part of your own story within them.
The exhibition took place in a local coffeeshop. It also included three days of live painting and two free coloring events. Original art available at www.offsides.art