Data explores color as an alternative and symbolic language. This series assigns each hue a numerical value, transforming color into a visual code. Through this system, each composition represents dates, years, or data points with emotional, historical, or conceptual significance connected to the theme of each work.

The project emphasizes the importance of data in contemporary life, positioning color as both information and emotion. Viewers are invited not only to observe aesthetically but to interpret color as a system of memory and meaning — a key that encodes time, experience, and context.

Each painting functions as a chromatic equation, blending art, data, and memory. Together, the series reflects on perception, symbolic translation, and the ways we connect color to personal and collective histories.

Color Legend:

(The last painting of the project, “Self-Portrait,” does not follow this legend.)

La Torre

Symbolic Numbers of the University of Puerto Rico

1903 — Founding year of the University of Puerto Rico. Marks the beginning of public education on the island and the dream of social mobility through knowledge.

3,000 — Approximate number of students who graduate each year.

11 — Number of campuses that make up the UPR system, each one a voice within a larger national identity.

1968 — Year of a historic student strike that marked a generation’s demand for autonomy and academic freedom.

85 — Number of doctoral degrees awarded in 2023.

15 & 41 — Doctoral and master’s programs currently offered, representing advanced study and research on the island.

70 — Undergraduate programs that shape Puerto Rico’s professional landscape.

500 — Approximate number of professors dismissed during budget crises, symbolizing institutional loss and intellectual erosion.

30,000 — Estimated number of UPR graduates who have emigrated in the last decade — the echo of Puerto Rico’s intellectual diaspora.

Mi Borikén

Symbolic Numbers of Puerto Rico

1898 — Year Puerto Rico transitioned from Spanish colony to U.S. territory after the Spanish-American War, marking a political and cultural shift that remains unresolved.

1952 — Establishment of the Commonwealth Constitution, representing both progress in self-governance and ongoing political dependence.

1493 — Arrival of Columbus to Borikén, signaling the beginning of colonization and cultural transformation.

78 — Number of municipalities, evoking the island’s diversity and sense of community.

2017 — Year of Hurricane María, symbolizing resilience and memory amid collapse.

4.5 million — Estimated Puerto Ricans living outside the island, expanding identity beyond geography.

100x35 — Dimensions of Puerto Rico in miles; now a cultural emblem of pride, resistance, and belonging.

Las Antillas

Symbolic Numbers of the Caribbean

7,000 — Approximate number of islands and cays that compose the Caribbean, representing fragmentation and unity across shared waters.

1492 — Beginning of colonization; a turning point of cultural exchange, violence, and transformation.

27°C — Average sea temperature, evoking life, movement, and warmth.

13 — Number of independent island nations, symbolizing the pursuit of sovereignty and complex postcolonial identity.

365 — Number of beaches in Antigua, “one for each day,” representing both paradise and exploitation.

300,000 — Estimated number of enslaved Africans who passed through Caribbean ports — the foundation of the region’s enduring culture.

2010 — Year of Haiti’s earthquake, a reminder of vulnerability, solidarity, and resilience across the Caribbean.

El Temporal

Symbolic Numbers of Hurricane María

2017 — The year the hurricane struck Puerto Rico, becoming a collective point of loss and awakening.

155 mph (250 km/h) — Maximum sustained wind speed, representing nature’s unrestrained power.

2,975 — Estimated deaths linked to the disaster; each a mark of memory and silence.

6 months — Time it took to restore power to most of the island, exposing institutional fragility.

80% — Collapse of the electrical grid, both a literal and symbolic disconnection.

43 days — Time the federal government took to declare the event a “major disaster,” reflecting delay and neglect.