Five years ago, artist Mara Torres Gonzalez and her husband were running a successful events design company in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Their young daughter was doing well in school and their teenage son was following his passion, training everyday as a member of Puerto Rico's national swim team.
But in September 2017, Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico, causing thousands of deaths, catastrophic flooding, and the destruction of the U.S. territory's power grid.
"We thought windows were going to just explode," said Torres Gonzalez of the night Maria made landfall. "You could hear stuff flying, like debris, and you were afraid that some of that was going to go through one of your windows. It was just the longest night of our lives."
The next morning, it became clear that life in Puerto Rico would not be the same.
"When we opened our front door, we opened a door to a new world," she said. "It looked like between a war zone or an apocalypse. No trees, everything was gray. Of course there was no power, no water, no cell phone, no communication period."
According to research, federal disaster aid to Puerto Rico after Maria took far longer than it did for hurricane impacted communities in Texas and Florida that same year.
That's why in the weeks that followed, Torres Gonzalez and her husband made the tough decision to send their son to live in Colorado with family so that he would be able to continue his training.
"Swimming is his passion and we knew that it was not going to be just a month out of the water for him," she said. "It was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do but it was the right thing to do for him."
In July 2018, the rest of the family became among the more than 100,000 people to leave Puerto Rico to make a new life in Florida.
They settled in Sarasota where Torres González, is the owner of MARA Art Studio + Gallery.
"Back home, they're still losing power every other day," she said of their decision to relocate. "I love Puerto Rico. I would love to be there right now but it's just tougher. You have to go through so many hard things to make it through. And here, if you work hard, life is easier. Everything kind of works."
But, the artist says, life on the mainland took some adjusting.
"It's been a challenge because it's different," she said. "Like in Puerto Rico, your neighbors are your family. Here, you don't see your neighbors, everybody is in their homes."
But, the artist says, she has found a sense of belonging through her work as an artist.
"My purpose with the gallery is to include not only professional artists, but emerging artists and art students," she said. "So, I've had here art students from the Ringling show their work. I do opening nights. I teach. I've collaborated with nonprofits. So, I've been connecting with the community through art."
Torres González tells the story of the resilient, through “209,” which refers to the date Hurricane Maria took place — September 20. The new book of artworks features images of Torres González’s mixed-media paintings, with photography.
You can hear more about the project and meet the artist, Tuesday starting at 4 pm at the Sarasota Art Museum.
