«When you go out, you realise your roots and how you reinforce your identity, or change it». – Malvin Montero in the documentary «La Brecha».
– Rob Maldonado.

Within the framework of the cultural proposal «Conciencia Afro», the transdisciplinary artist Rob Maldonado unravels the experience of being an Afro immigrant in Spain through the voice and corporal creation of Malvin Montero, Dominican choreographer and dancer, the protagonist of his work «La Brecha», an experimental/documentary audiovisual short film that is exhibited at this festival in collaboration, for the first time, with Proyector.

The piece connects with the purpose of Conciencia Afro by exposing the realities of the black community in Spain, addressing the experience of racialisation from the perspective of radical cuir negro thinking, which enables a vindication of individualities and the black, African and Afro-descendant collectivity today.

Taking into account the etymology of the word «gap», which corresponds to rupture, division, difference, lack of union and cohesion, Maldonado assertively reflects the distance that is still latent in the inclusion of black people in Spain. The artist manages to dimension in his work that gap expressed by the figure of the protagonist, who through his voice represents a whole community, unmasking his subjectivity through dance, telling his story and experience from his individuality, embracing the whole community.

The choice of this short documentary encompasses the objective of Conciencia Afro and also makes the voices and realities visible to the eyes of the whole state, which opens up a possible awareness of the issues surrounding racism, racialisation and discrimination in a context of immigration in Spain, especially bloody 30 years after the racist murder of Lucrecia Perez. The global south calls for the restructuring of social policies that have yet to be resolved.

Text: Juanita Díaz