Tiffany Alfonseca

A Not So Subtle Rebellion

- Jewels Dodson

With a population of a little more than 200,000, Washington Heights is 1.7 square miles sitting at the north end of Manhattan. It was first settled by Irish immigrants, and by the mid-twentieth century, became the largest US refugee settlement of German Jews fleeing Nazi Germany. Today it hums as the American epicenter of Dominican culture. Imagine the aroma of deep fried chicharrón wafting through the sounds of classic merengue blaring from a bodega and reggaeton blasting from an apartment window. Street vendors are busy selling everything from suspicious M.A.C. lipsticks to pastelitos con queso y jamón as “Oye primo” resounds from all corners. A cacophony of Spanish ricochets louder and faster than a Pedro Martinez fastball. Unlike other heavily gentrified ’hoods in New York City, la gente have kept the soul of this community intact. So, on a snowy December afternoon in her South Bronx studio, when artist Tiffany Alfonseca proudly proclaims, “I’m Dominican as fuck,” I know exactly what she means.