Firelei Báez: Sueño de la Madrugada (A Midnight’s Dream)

About

She delves into the relationship between diasporic cultures and the legacies of colonialism to challenge conventional narratives around identity and history.

Her recent work, ranging from immersive installations to lush paintings, is characterised by depictions of nature, formidable female figures, and a rich colour palette.

This exhibition, Sueño de la Madrugada (A Midnight’s Dream), which features a new body of work, continues Báez’s exploration of the Ciguapa, a mythological female figure from Dominican folklore. The Ciguapa’s characteristics often shift within storytelling, yet two key traits persist: her backwards-facing feet, rendering her untraceable, and her flowing, lustrous mane. The changeability of the Ciguapa highlights narrative inconsistencies and invites viewers to scrutinise their interpretations of what they understand to be true.

In the Main Gallery, Báez draws from personal, lived experiences of climate change and migration in both the Caribbean and the United States to create an immersive installation. At the Fire Station, a floor-to-ceiling abstract mural adorns one of the ground-floor galleries. In another gallery, pages from deaccessioned historical books find new life as surfaces for paintings. Báez creates a richer, more immersive viewing experience that invites visitors to envision the future with openness and collaboration.

“My works are propositions, meant to create alternate pasts and potential futures, questioning history and culture in order to provide a space for reassessing the present.”
— Firelei Báez
 

The exhibition is curated by the 2023/2024 New Curators fellows: Carol Bedoy, Courtney Brown, Felix Choong, Lemeeze Davids, Rosie Fitter, Lucia Jurikova, Aditi Kapoor, Makella Ama Ketedzi, Rey Londres, Nikita Sena Quarshie and Amandine Vabre Chau. New Curators offers aspiring curators from lower socio-economic backgrounds a paid, 12-month intensive curatorial training from its base at the South London Gallery. 

ABOUT FIRELEI BÁEZ

Firelei Báez (b. 1981, Dominican Republic) received an M.F.A. from Hunter College, a B.F.A. from the Cooper Union’s School of Art, and studied at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. In 2024, Báez’s major survey exhibition curated by Eva Respini opened at the ICA Boston. Her work has been presented in many significant international exhibitions, including the inaugural installation of the I.C.A. Watershed, Boston (2021), curated by Eva Respini, now on view at The Momentary in Bentonville, Arkansas, and The Milk of Dreams at the 59th Venice Biennale (2022), curated by Cecilia Alemani. Recent solo presentations of Báez’s work include exhibitions at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebaek; Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art, Rotterdam; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York; The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh; and Pérez Art Museum Miami.