Yasser G. Ritoles – Negro de H’Oro

Based on an investigative process on racial issues and after consulting various sources, I present a black pigment made from human hair, symbolizing the human species as one, with its diversifications extending beyond the concept of race.

Listen carefully to this: Did you know that humans are 99.9% genetically identical? Only a tiny fraction defines traits like eye color and predisposition to certain diseases. Since the mid-20th century, various scientific fields such as biology, genetics, and anthropology have confirmed that “human races” do not exist. Yet, the word race is still commonly used in daily conversations with family, friends, in the media, and even in school textbooks. If you look up the term race in the Spanish Dictionary (RAE, 2014), you will find this first definition: “Each of the groups into which some biological species are subdivided, whose differential characteristics are perpetuated by inheritance.” Upon examining this definition, races would appear to form specific groups, distinct from one another, within certain species of living beings.

Following this, each race would theoretically be defined by a series of biological characteristics that supposedly differentiate it from others within the same species. On Earth, many species exist, from bacteria to plants and animals. A species is defined as a group of individuals sharing the same characteristics, enabling them to reproduce among themselves and produce fertile offspring. Human beings belong to the species known as Homo sapiens.

In this project, “Black of H’Oro” designates a pigment made from the ashes of human hair after incineration, resulting in a unique black color. This pigment metaphorically represents the scientific concept of the human species as one, dismantling the false constructs surrounding the idea of human races.

“To speak is to exist absolutely for the other” (Frantz Fanon / Black Skin, White Masks, 1952).

Human races: “Slippery signifier: something that appears in the racialized system of representation as the site of a set of discursive operations that matter only because they constitute a particular regime of truth that organizes social practices….” (Stuart Hall).