Image Courtesy: Strike Magazine Orlando
Artists are people who live and breathe to create, putting their very essence into every piece they devise and every cause they pursue. Some are born to pursue a career in art in some way, and others just jump into it whenever they are ready. Juan Pablo Santa Luna is one of those people.
“I remember when I was a kid, my safe place was in my room, painting,” said Santa Luna.
Born in Colombia, he came to the United States at a young age with his family. After growing up here and establishing a successful corporate career for himself, he decided to become an artist.
“I was in corporate America, and I was having a lot of success in my career,” said Santa Luna. “But the more success I had, the more work I had, and the less time I had with my family. So I decided to follow my heart, and my heart was in the arts and culture, so I decided to become an artist.”
The move paid off: now, as the Executive Director to Founder Boris Garbe at the Mills Gallery, Santa Luna has found fulfillment in his career. He was responsible for creating the gallery's flagship exhibition, “Win-Winn,” where the artists and audience come together to enjoy art, among other feats.
“I learned about the business online, and then I met with Boris,” said Santa Luna. “We connected on the same things: the philosophy of helping the artist and putting the artist first. I had my first solo exhibition in 2022, and it was a success because I got a lot of good feedback.”
Aside from his passions as an artist, Santa Luna is also an outspoken activist on behalf of his home country, Colombia. On Aug. 10, 2026, an earthquake of magnitude 7.4 struck the city of Cali, Colombia, where Santa Luna had grown up. At the time, he was visiting his mother, and he was forced to take precautionary measures during and after the disaster.
“I went with a purpose before everything happened,” said Santa Luna. “My main goal was to meet with the vice president of Colombia because we have an initiative in which we want to make Orlando and Cali, my city's sister cities, use cultural events just to bring the people together. Here in Central Florida, there are probably 350,000 Colombians.”
Florida, on its own, is a hub for people of Latinx descent in general, with Colombians being the fourth-largest population in the state according to the United States Census Bureau.
“Everything happened like it was supposed to: I met him and some of his ministers, like the minister of foreign affairs. It was a really successful trip,” said Santa Luna.
Two days after the meetings, however, the earthquake struck. According to UNICEF, more than 180 people died, over 2,700 were injured, over 3,700 homes were destroyed, and 20,000 sustained damage.
“I was with my mom in a 14th-floor apartment when the earthquake happened, so I was pretty high up, and I felt very vulnerable,” said Santa Luna. “I went through a whole experience of thinking, ‘I’m going to die,’ while I was holding my mom. We couldn’t run down 14 floors because she’s 78 years old. I ended up helping the city clear the streets, delivering food and water to other places, so I got the chance to add value for four or five days.”
To be able to help his people in the aftermath of such a great disaster inspired Santa Luna; he felt like he could continue to do more.
“When I came back to Orlando, I was feeling empty, like I have to keep doing something else for my country, for my people,” said Santa Luna. “I became an American in 2018, and my heart is with Colombia because I was born there, but this is where I live now. And I think that where you live now, where your body is, your mind has to be there too.”
So Santa Luna came home with a mission in mind: to keep the story of the devastation alive for as long as he could. With the help of Mills Gallery, he’s been able to do that very thing.
“Once I came back to Orlando, we started talking, and we decided, okay, let’s keep this story alive,” said Santa Luna. “The news cycle goes fast, as you know, and tomorrow, another natural disaster could happen, and so we decided, through our platform here, to help through the foundation Give to Colombia to bring in donations for the rebuilding of Cali.”
Santa Luna is working continuously with Mills Gallery, as well as Garbe, to keep the story circulating for as long as possible.
“We’re not asking for money,” Garbe said. “It’s easy to write a check. We’re asking, do you know anybody in the media? Do you know anybody willing to write about it? All we want is for the world to remember this story for six months. And if we pull that off, a little gallery in Orlando—that's a little gallery speaking up for a whole nation.”
Strike Out,
Victoria Suarez
Edited by: Brenda Nunes, Arsheeya Garg and Jaz DeGuzman
Victoria is a journalist for Strike Magazine, Orlando. She is studying Theatre Performance and Entertainment Management at the University of Central Florida and is expecting to graduate in 2027. Victoria has been writing since she was very young, and she deeply enjoys seeing the positive impact her words have had on people. When she isn't writing, she's probably at a concert, doing some form of dance, or working.
