LIVE NOW

Mercedes A. Villamán

SCENE I — Identity Moment

MY LIFE. MY OPUS.

NOTABENZ - A PERSPECTIVE.

Not Because, But inSpite of

Writer Traveler Artist Pilgrim Storyteller Explorer Creator Dreamer Writer Traveler Artist Pilgrim Storyteller Explorer Creator Dreamer

— Take I — The Origin

Born from a single Mother — on a Carnival Day

A Dominican born Dominiquena turned Dominirrican by the New York City Winters,

Mercedes A. Villaman tried not to be a Writer but could not. In spite of that, she tried to be a writer. And she always was. Mercedes tried to be an artist, jumping from spot to spot she took notes, pictures, sounds and memories.

SCENE II — Take I of IV

— Take II — The Road

32 countries. One relentless question.

The Camino de Santiago. The streets of Havana. A notebook in Lisbon. Every road walked is a sentence written — not in metaphor, but in method.

Travel was never tourism. It was research. Evidence- gathering. A study in how different people hold the same desire to be fully alive.

SCENE II — Take II of IV

— Take III — The Art

Street art. Conceptual work. Language as canvas.

Not all art lives in galleries. Some lives on walls, in margins, in the gap between what is said and what is meant. This is the territory NOTaBENZ claims.

From urban murals to written essays, the creative philosophy is constant:

SCENE II — Take III of IV

— Take IV — The Philosophy

Identity is not given. It is built — word by deliberate word.

The name says it all. NOTaBENZ is a refusal. A declaration. A signal that your worth was never determined by what you drove, wore, or inherited.

This is the world we are building, one story at a time. You are either in it, or you are still deciding. Both are fine. The door is always open.

SCENE IV — Take IV of IV

Manifesto

Don’t Let the Bastards Grind You Down

Dec 30, 2025 · 2 min

Read

Personal

Letters I Never Sent

Dec 30, 2025 · 1 min

Read

Travel

The Camino: Walking Into Myself

Nov 12, 2025 · 5 min

Read

SCENE IV — Identity Artifacts

Not a store. A Gallery.

Each piece is a story fragment. A personal artifact. A signal.

Browse all

NOTaBENZ

Short-Sleeve T-Shirt

$16.00 - $18.50

POLKA DOTS COLLECTION

Women’s cropped windbreaker

$51.00 - $52.50

TAINO COLLECTION

Unisex fleece sweatpants

$40.00 - $42.50

@villamanmercedes

Scene V — The Connection

You are not
scrolling a website.

You just entered a
world.

Every pixel here is a deliberate act of creation. If it moved you, challenged you, or made you feel something — then the work is complete. Now it’s your turn to continue the story.

Enter the full world Send a message

MY LIFE. MY OPUS.

Born from a single Mother — on a Carnival Day

Stories from the Field

Don’t Let the Bastards Grind You Down

Letters I Never Sent

The Camino: Walking Into Myself

Short-Sleeve T-Shirt

Women’s cropped windbreaker

Unisex fleece sweatpants

The story continues in your inbox.

You are not scrolling a website.

You are not
scrolling a website.