People of Colonial Zone, Santo Domingo

Faces with a voice

In the small city of Santo Domingo there’s even a smaller spot where you can find so many people trying to tell interesting stories about the way they see the world. I’ve realized that this small area is the cultural center where people gather to show what’s inside them… Few places in this country people gather like this to share their voices…

Like this Hulk character. He and his friends from The National School for deaf people (Escuela Nacional para Sordos) gathered at Plaza de Colon to tell the story of remarkable people in society that despite being deaf had made incredible contributions that shape today’s world.

The character he’s portraying is Lou Ferrigno. The actor that gave life to the Incredible Hulk on the 1977 original tv series. (Nerdy fact: Lou Ferrigno even appeared as a security guard in the 2008 movie The Incredible Hulk. This is one of the easter eggs that are always present in all marvel movies) His condition did not kept him from being a movie and TV star.

This guy is portraying Christopher Melenciano, a young athlete that despite being deaf has been winning gold in 200 and 400mt sprints.

“Deafness is not a limitation” is a great story to tell…

This man don’t tell his story by using words, or by using art… his face is the medium. It can tell a thousand stories about his life. He was perplexed watching a show two trumpeters were performing. He didn’t know I was observing him and for the rest of the people there he was like invisible. I think he felt alone.

There was a public party at the park, a band was performing a “Son Concert”. Nobody invited him to dance but that didn’t kept him from enjoying the moment, he was actually dancing and singing with people he didn’t even know. These people normally wouldn’t dance with him because he’s probably homeless and has mental illness but this moment was one of those when people just enjoy life without making any judgment. People didn’t care about any of that.

That’s the power of art.

I think this street flutist has an incredible amount of talent. His gifts are the stories he tell through his beautiful music filling the air and getting into the very souls of all the people that walk on this street (Calle el Conde). If you can hear him there’s no way to ignore the connection he creates when performing. It’s kind of hypnotic.

Willy Gomez, a local artist performing live painting on the street.