Omilani’s ‘Latinagras: Love The Skin You’re In’ at LadyFest Miami 2015. (Image: Omilani)

Global festival LadyFest merges music, art, women’s rights and feminism in a mashup of women’s empowerment. In what started in a living room in Miami several years ago to today’s two-day volunteer-organized gathering, LadyFest is community centered and draws a crowd determined to discuss local issues such as technology and violence against women, among other topics.

LadyFest Miami, which took place from Sept. 25-26, featured singer/songwriter and filmmaker Omilani Alarcón, who presented Latinegras: Love the Skin You’re In, a documentary that highlights the Afro-Latina experience via the stories, accounts and words of multigenerational women who identify as such. For those unfamiliar with the term Latinegras, it describes women of African descent with roots in Latin America. The term is a combination of two words: Latina and Negra.

“Latinegras is an important work in the [Afro-Latinidad] movement because it connects and resonates with the quest of self-definition and lets people know they are not alone,” says Alarcón. “Sometimes, the struggles we endure make us feel all alone, but the more we talk about it, the more we understand our connection to each other”

This is the second year the artist’s work has been featured. Alarcón praises LadyFest for creating a space where all things women is showcased, supported and defined, a commonality with the Latinegras movement. “Our inclusion in LadyFest is very important because, Ladyfest Miami is a space where women of every possible type are able to express and not only proclaim who they are, but educate the community about their personal expression of self as well.”

Below, you can watch the Latinegras trailer:

As a participant in the documentary, I thank Omilani for creating a platform where Latinegras can discuss identity and look forward to future screenings.

Are you a Latinegra? Let us know how you define yourself in the comments section.