C&AL: There is a memory of blackness in the Americas that is increasingly common. This year is the first time Argentina’s census has incorporated this dimension of ethnic Afro-descendant self-recognition. How are you experiencing this aesthetic and political shift in representation?
Colleen: The Argentinian State, on the whole, has a culture budget that promotes art, but as black women working on Afro-descendance we feel a difference: our projects address that, focus on that, and even so, there is very little institutional interest. For five years we have been asking ourselves: Where are we from? Who are we? What are our roots? And now, only recently, there are some public policies, as you see with the census or other cultural areas, that are supporting Afro-artists for the first time, but only in things that interest them, you know? Just acknowledging the existence of Afro-people in Argentina. But when we dare propose the Afrofuturist search for our ancestral roots—bringing them from the future, as well as from the past—, the people who read our proposals—who are the ones who control all the infrastructure—, do not have the slightest idea of what we are talking about.
Julia: Our circle is much smaller here, but we have historical references. Argentina is in that initial process at the country level, but it is true that there is a history of many years of resistance in each province, which has brought us to where we are today. The achievement of the census, for instance, the visibility of María Remedios del Valle, who was an important historical figure, though very hidden. That is what happens. As references, we have very strong women who have dedicated their lives to this, to speaking and teaching us, the youngest generations, many things we did not know about Argentinian history itself. Our community recognizes us and finds in our performances a place to participate, a space to talk about our ancestry more within the community, something that is also important, you know? Where we see and listen to one another.
Jasmín: We started the visibility process because we needed to start thinking about public policies, to talk about the black populations in countries like Argentina, which kept us invisible for a long time. We, as a black community, are talking about the future, about technology, building agency from visibility. Art institutions, museums, expect us to talk about racism or about what they already know about our cultures…
Colleen: That is the evil that comes from whiteness. The expectation that things will come little by little because they are already coming…