"Hoy Santa Barbara" StreetArt Festival

This Sunday I finally had the opportunity to visit Hoy Santa Bárbara to see the newest street art murals. If you want to know more about Santa Barbara, let me tell you this is a small neighborhood located near the Colonial Zone of Santo Domingo which has completely been forgotten (while I was doing some research for this post, I learned that in this neighborhood is located the church of Santa Barbara wher our Father of the Nation, Juan Pablo Duarte was baptized … every day you learn something new, right?)

This project started with the owners of Modafoca, a graphic design and advertising studio. Along with 11 artists they worked together to make this neighborhood more beautiful, transforming the space that had lost its importance. The event lasted one week, where dominicans and international artists as; Gabz Lpa Hd, Agurria-Hd, C. Pimentel Feat. Gina Paola, Nathalie Ramirez, Leks, Esteban del Valle, Bik Ismo, Vero Rivera, Celso and Ceroker expressed the essence of this community on their own style.

The idea is really interesting, and it’s worth going there to see the murals in person. Personally, they reminded me of the streets of Williamsburg (NYC), Wynwood (MIA), Berlin and San Francisco, where you see lots of street art as part of the city culture but Hoy Santa Bárbara has its own dominican twist. The only thing that really disappointment (wish I hope it gets better!) was that several streets were destroyed, and there were a lot of accumulated waste which takes away the beauty of the area. I just hope the City Hall takes action and work to improve the roads of this neighborhood and also, the people living here should learn that keeping this area clean their responsibility.

If you are a foreigner visiting the country or have a friend visiting DR, Hoy Santa Bárbara is one of the new places you should add to your travel guide. It’s so good to know that the Dominican Republic is not only about beach, beer and fried ‘tostones’. 😉