Immersion into Compounded Time and The Paintings of Firelei Báez

This exhibition will explore Firelei Báezʼs
investigations on the visibility and the construction of
complex cultural identities within the Afro-Caribbean
Diaspora and how these notions are perceived in
todayʼs global world. Her large-scale and intricate
portraits of influential individuals and mythical
goddesses of Afro-Caribbean history create a
contemporary narrative of a womanʼs life, embracing
the past, and staking her place in a universal future.

This exhibition will also feature a new installation by
the artist to consider the scarring of colonization and
time on the landscape, in striking neon and opulent
color. Her goal is to immerse the viewer in a space of
melted time, to consider themes of interweaving
geography and individuality.
Báez is best known through her extraordinary
paintings of lush landscaped-figures, intricately
patterned tignons, and otherworldly bodies with
striking eyes. Here, she considers the reality of ones
current social and the historic construction of cultural
self in America. These complex, intersectional bodies
and symbols alongside large-scale portraits are
painted in vibrant, swirling colors, which intermingle
time and character. For Báez, “identity is malleable,
negotiated,” and given strength by the female body
and mythology of her being.
This exhibition is curated by Katherine Navarro,
Associate Curator of Education