The Puerto Rico Capitol building has opened its doors to an underwater universe through the exhibition 'El mar, mi refugio' by Puerto Rican artist Héctor M. Ruiz. The exhibition, announced by House of Representatives President Carlos 'Johnny' Méndez and parliamentary majority spokesperson Wilson Román, features a collection of works inspired by the natural richness of the seas surrounding the island.
The exhibition will be open to the public until October 31 in the José Tous Soto Gallery, located in the Capitol’s basement. Ruiz’s paintings are born from his intimate and experiential relationship with the sea, its coasts, and the forms of life that inhabit it. He transforms his experiences as a diver and fisherman into landscapes where marine reality acquires a poetic, fantastic, and sensory dimension.
The exhibition celebrates the sea as a refuge, food source, heritage, and space for cultural and spiritual identity, while making visible the fragility of the ecosystems that sustain life. Ruiz, born in Mayagüez, received training in plastic arts in the Dominican Republic and later completed a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering Technology at the Inter American University of Puerto Rico, Aguadilla campus.