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Fabiola Méndez's project "Negrura" (released in 2022) is an audiovisual storytelling experience that showcases the stories of Afro-Latinx folks from Boston’s Latin Quarter Cultural District. The film aims to create spaces for conversations about colorism, anti-blackness, discrimination, and racism within our own Afro-Caribbean and Afro-Latinx community. Music, at the core of the project, connects our voices to provide a space for self-reflection, support, and healing.
Stay tuned to the upcoming events page for more opportunities to watch this film in person. The film is also available for private showings as well as school and university visits. Please reach out via the contact page to inquire.
Produced by: Fabiola Méndez | Directed by: Monica Cohen | Edited by: Paloma Valenzuela | Color by: Jorge Roman | Audio mixing: Alex Maury López
“Being a black man in Boston means that you have tougher skin. You're quick on your feet. You're resourceful. And you have to learn how to turn lemons into lemonade. You have to know your surroundings constantly, you know? But you can't just stroll anywhere you want to and think that everything's going to be peachy. I feel like the only place where I don't have to be careful of my surroundings is with my family and with my close friends.” - Oscar
“Cuando pequeña odiaba mucho mi pelo. Creo que una de las cosas que he aprendido de lo que es el cabello negro (el cabello afro) es que es cabello fuerte y resiliente, o sea que por mucho que nosotros hacemos, por más “jalones y químicos” que le demos, cuando vuelve a crecer, vuelve a ser nuestra corona. Y eso es una apreciación que le tengo al cabello mío, al cabello africano.” - Inés
“How am I taking care of myself if I always have to be speaking about my experience followed by a validation of why my experience is the way it is? Not everybody has to do that.” - Mar
“En mi país te dicen indio lavadito... “tú eres un indiecito claro, tú no eres negro.” De por sí, te quitan esa identidad. Pero está en nosotros, en entender, educarnos, en darle fondo a buscar nuestra identidad, saber qué nosotros somos. A base de eso, entonces sí podemos florecer realmente con una identidad propia. Básicamente, es la única forma de existir. Cuando tú plenamente eres feliz con quien tú eres, eres 100%, fluyes 100% con tu identidad.” - Ray
This project is supported and made possible in part through the Radical Imagination for Racial Justice (RIRJ) program, a partnership between Massachusetts College of Art and Design and the City of Boston.
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