This story originally appeared in an issue of Vogue Mexico.
Para leer en espanol, haz clicaqui.
How can you tell a story that has been deprived of its sound?
Where do you begin a genuine tale that was always denied the possibility of being told?
Over time, Black heritage has been pushed to the margins of every discourse and essentially disappeared.
But today, some Afro-Mexicans are begun to reclaim their presence.
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And they are gaining a voice.
(One is an English term that encapsulates the Adonis archetype that excludes the indigenous body.
The other holds a subtle reminiscence to the literate elite that tries to control all bodies.)
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“Having deep self-love is also a form of anticolonialism.”
Instead, Drullard has embraced the wordmarika.
“I come from a neighborhood called Sabana Perdida in the Dominican Republic.
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That place has shaped the effort I’ve put into becoming who I am.
I learned not to identify myself with it, not to let myself fall.
Having deep self-love is also a form of anticolonialism.”
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Waquel inhabits a Black, fighting, racialized body.
They want to decontextualize the Black body.
I fight beauty standards and social order.
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“I decided to claim the story I had been denied.”
Later on, I studied anthropology, and a whole new world opened to me.
I have always felt this ambiguity between Mexico City and Costa Chica.
From a very young age, I was questioned by others about my parents' dark skin.
When I recognized and accepted my Blackness, I start to claim it back.
At Afrochingonas, we’re not looking for representation; we’re looking for a way of self-representing.
We are aware that we’re not absolutes: we get feedback from those who are listening.
These lives are part of our historical soul.
They speak by themselves, opposing power, learning to reuse their strengths, and avoiding traps.
Photographed by Viridiana for The Legends.
Hair and makeup: Jesus Pelncia.
Location: Centro Estudio.
Production assistant: Karla Romero.
Translation by Cynthia Rodriguez.
