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Adjuntas.- After achieving multiple successes in several cities in the United States, Puerto Rican muralist Danny Torres returned to his native town of Adjuntas to paint murals, as part of a project promoted by Casa Pueblo, a local grassroots organization.

The 63-year-old virtuoso has lived in Philadelphia for many years. There, he cultivated a long career in public art through impressive works showcased, mainly, in Puerto Rican communities. A year and a half ago, Danny moved his palette of life experiences from Philadelphia to the so-called ‘Tierra de lagos’, to create a series of paintings inspired by the theme of solar energy, strategically placed in various parts of the downtown area, and some neighborhoods.

Raised in the Yahuecas community, the talented artist remembers how his passion for art was born, and the reason why he moved to the U.S. at the age of 28.

“My story is full of ups and downs. I was abandoned along with three other brothers. My parents had problems, which made my father disappear. But I was raised by a woman who had three daughters, Edelmira Torres. She gave me her last name,” he confessed. “I drew a lot during school years and, in middle school, since my classmates knew that I could draw, whenever we had projects for classes, they came to me to make their drawings,” recalled Torres, who graduated from Rafael Aparicio Jiménez high school.

When he turned 19, he married and then enlisted in the United States Army Reserve. While fulfilling his military role, he found a job opening with the Puerto Rico Department of Education in Adjuntas as an art teacher, which he took. He worked for several years until “I ventured out as an artisan and made hand painted t-shirts and cattails, in case the festivals didn’t go well.”

“I painted many murals from 1979 onwards, in charismatic and Pentecostal churches in the town and neighborhoods. In the church I belonged to, I drew a mural in the baptistery and, from there, the other churches asked me to paint murals in their respective temples,” he said.

At the age of 28, he traveled to Chicago, Illinois, to paint a mural with the Puerto Rican movement Human Rights Network.

“They saw me working, at an homage to (Juan Antonio) Corretjer, I was painting the faces of Corretjer, Albizu, Betances, and other Puerto Rican heroes and patriots.”

“So I went to Chicago, I painted the mural and returned to Puerto Rico. Later, the same organization invited me to paint a mural in Philadelphia. I was there for a while and, at the time, I decided to stay because of the economy. I noticed that there, painting murals, the economy was better,” he revealed.

Thus, he carved a niche for himself in Philadelphia through painting murals in the community.

“I painted cultural murals with the Puerto Rican flag, musical instruments, and typical customs. I also taught workshops in schools about the history of Puerto Rico through vejigante masks; I taught the children how to make them, as well as t-shirt screen printing workshops and airbrush workshops,” he explained, the latter about his work with the Taller Puertorriqueño organization.

“Out of those students I had at the time, four of them followed this path and became artists and art teachers,” he said with great pride.

However, his fame grew so much that, suddenly, “I was booked and busy, especially to paint murals in honor of people who were murdered.” “Philadelphia at that time was a pretty dangerous city and there was a lot of death related to drugs and gangs. At the time, the Philadelphia Inquirer (newspaper) came to interview me regarding the ‘In-memory’ murals, for its Sunday publication,” he said.

As is the case for many Puerto Ricans who migrate to the U.S., not everything is smooth sailing, and Danny faced “days of glory and other days that were very difficult.” Although his faith seemed to be fading, the artist confessed that “I had been asking God for years, crying, to give me the opportunity to return to Puerto Rico, but doing what I do.”

It seemed his plea was heard when he ran into the director of Casa Pueblo, Arturo Massol Deyá, who invited him to be part of a mural project for the town of Adjuntas. This was made possible through Centro de Economía Creativa (CEC).

“This organization was reaching out to different organizations across the island to develop art with funds from the Mellon Foundation. Casa Pueblo de Adjuntas was chosen as one of the organizations,” he explained. “We began to develop murals throughout the town of Adjuntas and its neighborhoods with a colleague named Verónica Aponte, who is very talented. The project lasts three years. We’ve worked for a year and a half and we must finish in 2025,” he highlighted.

The artist doesn’t put down his luggage, as “I come and go constantly” from Philadelphia to Puerto Rico, but he confessed that staying for good “is part of a dream, I’m already 63 years old.”

Regarding his artistic contribution, “from the diaspora to the world,” the artist assured that, “it is glorious, because when you realize that there’s Puerto Ricans that love the island so much, but they miss it terribly, they’re grateful when you carry a piece of Puerto Rico there.”

“The murals I started, well, I used to do that, it was a lot of culture and that makes them feel prouder, like their neighborhoods actually belong to them. For me, it’s a real treat,” he concluded.