KORAL CARBALLO

Siempre Estuvimos Aquí (We Were Always Here) investigates Afro-descent in Mexico which often hides in a cloak of tradition and colonization mindset. A historical discourse about the whitewashed origin of Mexicans as a people of indigenous and European descent creates an origin myth about a mixed-race identity that hides other roots, such as the African.

She follows her own journey in exploring her family’s background. The process, while occasionally confrontational, is essential to understanding where her family came from.  To help further expose this narrative, Koral creates community workshops focused on preserving family photographs, while encouraging conversation about how miscegenation in Mexico has been used as an instrument of racial control and domination.

Through her workshops, Koral helps participants rethink their own archives and how preserving them gives them the importance and could potentially impact the nation’s view of itself by cataloging some of these in a more permanent way.