When the Gaudí awards ceremony ended, the majority comment was that the best of the gala had been the speech by the actress and singer Yolanda Sey vindicating her black Catalan identity, especially in the audiovisual world.
How did the idea of this parliament come about?
It was a proposal from Oye Polo, who directed and scripted the gala, and they were clear that they wanted to talk about the racial issue in Catalan cinema, but they did not want to do it and they proposed it to me.
Who wrote it?
The three of us were talking about what we wanted to come out. The speech has a lot of the Oye Polo brand in terms of irony, and the content was more proposed by me.
With the use of irony, at first there were people who were a little confused.
Yes, that's how it was. We used irony so that it did not clash with the general tone of the gala. Turning the tables and putting things the other way around is a way to hook people into empathizing more, although there were people who were surprised.
Have there been reactions from the profession in general or towards you in particular?
Not for the moment. There has been more media buzz and the video is widely shared on social media. That takes time, but I have good feelings.
In his words, he denounced the stereotypical roles that are usually given to performers with black skin: immigrants, sex workers... When you have been offered one of these, how have you acted?
In recent years, from the Tinta Negra collective, we have noticed that there is a change. We have denounced it for a long time, but it is true that there have been changes in the world of theater. But they are like mushrooms and the norm is that we receive stereotypical castings. A few years ago, I starred in a film about a girl who came from Nigeria, without papers, a prostitute [ The Illegal Woman ], and I really liked doing it, because I'm not saying that these things don't have to be done, but they don't have to be the unique. Since then I have rejected many proposals, because I don't want to do just that and because I pay close attention to how this issue is treated.
What is Black Ink?
It is a collective of black performers and playwrights from Barcelona, which emerged with the controversy of the play Àngels a Amèrica, by the Teatre Lliure. They say that there are few black actors and actresses, that there are not many of us. Thus, en masse, we demonstrate that we are many different faces and we appeal to consciences.
When you performed one of the twelve Colometes in Carlota Subirós' production of La plaça del Diamant at the TNC, was there any reaction?
There was no comment. Just like when I played a character from Yerma, at the Teatre Lliure. She is an actress playing a character that is fictional. The play is a convention and everyone is understanding it. When you see that nothing happens with these things, it is difficult for me to understand when they tell us that it cannot be, that it is not credible, that it is strange. When you try it and do it, you see that there is no type of reaction.
Neither negative nor positive.
Exact. In La plaça del Diamant it was highlighted that there were many different actresses who played the character, but not specifically how you play Colometa. It has been shown that once it is done nothing has happened and, on the other hand, when they tell us that they will not catch us, they argue that it would happen.
Are you comfortable with the term “racialized actress”?
Yes, because that's how the world sees us. The day we stop being racialized, we will stop using it.
What would you say to someone who doesn't understand that they can play any role as a Catalan? What does it mean to be Catalan?
There has been a lot of uproar on the networks and the most negative comments are those that say that people in Catalonia are white, the race is white. I understand where that comes from, because the majority of people are white, but when they say it they deny my existence, because I was born here. They are telling me that I am not real and that I cannot represent myself, therefore I do not exist. It is a burden that we carry, that affects us emotionally, at work, on many levels.
What is lacking?
There needs to be a change in mentality, we need to appeal to everyone's conscience, because there are non-white people who were born here and who, therefore, are Catalan. With this attitude, they are saying that there are first-class and second-class Catalans, and they are labeling me as a second-class Catalan, with fewer rights. That is very serious, because they are saying that there are classes within Catalanness.
It is pure Catalan.
Yes, the eight Catalan surnames. People are afraid when we say that perhaps we have to rethink Catalanness. But it is not rethinking it, but realizing that it is different now from twenty or forty years ago.
Does its public projection also imply a responsibility?
When they asked me to give the speech, I took it as a responsibility because I want things to change for the entire group. I have received messages from families who have black children thanking me for them, because they do not see any type of representation, and that affects them at street level.
Catalan version, here
