The presence of Africans in Europe is nothing new, remembering that the borders of Africa have historically ended on the Pyrenees and The Iberian Peninsula has always been a part of Africa, featured prominently in African history and psyche from the earliest periods of prehistory.
From as far back as 45,000 BC when the first Africans crossed over into Gibraltar, this is a history that Europeans have always aimed to bury.
Fast forward to 711 AD when The Moors, an African army crossed over the same border and began to rule over the Peninsula for over 700 years. Yet regarding this very rich history of African presence in Europe and specifically Spain, the reality is that Africans and those of the Diaspora continue to be seen and treated as unwanted visitors and are continuously denied the rights to exist and live within the realms of safety, security and freedom.
Black bodies are regularly attacked, degraded, criminalized and discarded in Europe and across seas. It is important to rethink and reimagine the narratives that we have been taught and which we attach to our understanding of humanity, especially around Black bodies.
This ongoing project aims to celebrate the reclamation of the land by those who have been denied it for so long. Spain has and will always be connected to Africa whether through their forced colonial participation or through the first footsteps which scaled its landscapes.