La 42 by Alfonso Bricegno & Domien Van De Velde

By (author):  Alfonso Bricegno and Domien Van De Velde

Title: La 42

Subtitle: Fragments of Life and Resilience in Santo Domingo

Blurb:

La 42 is more than a street in Santo Domingo; it is a living symbol of resilience, struggle, and survival. Historically born from migration and poverty, the neighborhood of Capotillo — and particularly its Calle 42 — has long carried the weight of marginalization. Once a stage for popular resistance, it now embodies the raw contradictions of urban life in the Dominican Republic.

Created in collaboration with photographer Domien Van De Velde, this body of work captures the multiple faces of La 42: the everyday dignity of women carrying the weight of their trade, the playfulness of children swimming in polluted rivers, the intimacy of homes where faith and memory persist. Horses graze among garbage, zinc houses cling to the riverbank, yet amidst these scenes, gestures of tenderness and resilience emerge.

The project does not seek to exoticize poverty, but to honor the humanity and complexity of this place. La 42 is both precarious and vibrant, stigmatized and celebrated — a space where struggle and community coexist.

Presented as a photobook, the project proposes a sequence that oscillates between portrait and landscape, intimacy and collective memory. Our intention is to allow the viewer to enter this world and witness the fragile beauty of life lived at the margins.

ISBN: 978-87-7620-654-3

Book language: English

Publishing house: Snap Collective

Website: www.snap-collective.com

Editorial Assistant: Natalia Manole

Designer: Roman Shamalo

Published on: in production

Category: Art

Price (€): 129

Keywords: photography, documentary, street photography, Dominican Republic, Santo Domingo, Capotillo, resilience, community, everyday life, portrait, urban culture, color, humanity, social realism, Caribbean, intimacy, dignity, resistance, poetic realism, collaboration