This series addresses the ingenuity of non-English speaking immigrants when faced with the challenges of identifying and interacting with their unfamiliar surroundings.My objective is to celebrate the resilience that empowers individuals who strive to establish a new home and to demonstrate the authority that “naming” provides to a community in the process of integration. My parents, like most of our community, emigrated from rural parts of the Dominican Republic, a small country in the Caribbean sea. They didn't speak English when they arrived, yet they had to navigate through a land where there were many things they had never seen. Out of necessity, or perhaps efficiency they referred to those "novelties" phonetically, and essentially pronounced the non-translated words in a "thick" Spanish accent. I call this jargon, specific to the Dominican community in New York City, Dominiconics.
*Click Images To Isolate
Robert con su Polilaka*, 2019/2020
(Robert with his Police Lock)
6’x3’
Oil on board
*poh-lee-LAH-kah
Police locks, manufactured by the Fox Police Lock Company, were ubiquitous in New York City apartments throughout the 20th century. The mechanism consisted of a heavy duty steel floor-mounted locking bar set into a hole in the floor and secured into a door-mounted lock.
Hay que Freir un Plátano pa’ Sangibing*, Romery!, 2019/2020
(Fry a Plantain for Thanksgiving, Rosemary!)
6’x3’
Oil on board
*sang-GEE-bing
The Thanksgiving Holiday, with its celebration of family and food has much appeal in the Dominican community. Many families will feature a whole turkey dinner, although turkeys are not native to the Dominican Republic. The meal represents a merging of cultures and includes plantains, rice, kibbehs (quipes) and empanadas (pastelitos).
José Va pa’ el Rufo*, 2019/2020
(Jose is Going to the Roof)
6’x3’ Oil on board
*ROO-pho
There was a time when the roofs of New York City were accessible to anyone. It wasn’t uncommon to find a pigeon coop, clotheslines, or young people watching the sunset. Often there would be someone reinstalling a television antenna that was blown over by the wind.
Dele al Etíng* Felix, 2019/2020
(Hit the Radiatior Pipe, Felix)
6’x3’
Oil on board
*eh-TING
Until the late 20th century, many New York City tenement buildings were heated by coal-burning furnaces into which lumps of coal had to be shoveled. Occasionally, the porter or super would get distracted and the fire would die, stopping the flow of steam, which was the source of heat and hot water. To get his attention, tenants would tap the radiator pipes, which rose up from the basement into each apartment. The desperate clanking would alert the super who would get back to work (sometimes).
Juan Carlos Pasa lo’ Domingo Jugando Sobol*, 2019/2020
(Juan Carlos Spends Sundays Playing Softball)
6’x3’
Oil on board
*soh-BOHL
Latin softball leagues have been operating in Northern Manhattan and the Bronx since the mid 20th century.