Firelei Báez Exhibition at Hauser & Wirth LA

By LORIEN SUAREZ-KANERVA December 16, 2024

Firelei Báez's artwork is currently on display at Hauser & Wirth in downtown Los Angeles, running until January 5, 2025. This exhibition engages in contemporary dialogues surrounding identity, migration, and feminism, illuminating the intersectionality that shapes human experience and existence.

Báez’s creations resonate with the concept of “intersectionality,” coined by Kimberlé Crenshaw in feminist theory. This concept emphasizes how individual perspectives—shaped by situated knowledge and imagination—intersect across various cultural, racial, gender, regional, and national definitions in a complex matrix of interrelations between them. In Báez's work, this concept can be read as a central theme, influencing her exploration of identity, migration, and feminism, and shaping her artistic narrative.

Through her evocative body of work, particularly in her Ciguapa Series, Báez explores themes related to the female body, including hair and mythology. The Ciguapa Series, a significant part of Báez's artistic journey, delves into the complexities of female identity and empowerment, often intertwining with elements of Dominican folklore and history.

Báez’s work in later pieces introduced documents that historically defined the placement and categorization of Caribbean colonized peoples and their territories. In this manner, her work aligns with postcolonial and decolonial theory, which emerged from post-structuralist and modernist critiques of colonial worldviews. One such thinker, Benedict Anderson, in Imagined Communities, examined the process whereby communal identities evolved beyond those definitions that forged from their colonial histories. By utilizing historical documents as a substrate, Báez aspires to create a catalytic dialogue for a new discourse that transcends the narratives imposed by colonialism.

At a personal level, Firelei described that her experience of immigration and moving have a parallel dimension associated with her artwork. Like the figure above the map, Báez also experienced this as a process of re-inventing her understanding of herself and her environment at each new location. Her work serves as a testament to the transformative power of art, inspiring hope, and resilience in the face of change.

Furthermore, feminism and migration continuously evolve conceptually. Nyra Yuval-Davis describes the sense of belonging as an “in-process” and ongoing construction. In The Politics of Belonging, the author notes that the meanings and associations derived from this shared form of belonging reflect the ongoing multivariate matrix of social definitions complexities at work that have historically shaped identity at individual and collective levels.

In her piece Untitled (Mornes), Báez confronts societal norms regarding women’s hair from her native Dominican Republic. It stems from an essential memory of her shared experience with women while attending to their hair. In her artwork, hair emerges as a feminist construct —an avenue for understanding women's experiences and their autonomy either as empowered or thwarted as an expression of identity and belonging through fashion.

As a woman growing up within the Black diaspora, so much is weighted on hair. Those little buns represent different ways of navigating the world—they are protective styles that women wear between spaces. While women have various hair textures, only one was deemed acceptable. Thus, women would transition between home and work, or home and social events, with their hair styled in these buns, only to release them later for the performance expected in different spaces. Firelei Báez

The Ciguapa—a mythological figure from Dominican folklore—appeared prominently in her earlier artwork as a character embodying an empowered female trickster with an amalgam of distinctive human, animal, and native vegetative attributes. This figure, deeply rooted in Dominican culture, serves as a powerful symbol of female empowerment and resilience in Báez's work.

The fact that it amazes me does not mean I relinquish it, Bronze, 115 x 42 1/2 x 73 in, 2024. Photo: Mats Nordman. © Firelei Báez. Courtesy of the artist and Hauser & Wirth.

In the exhibition, her sculptural work The fact that it amazes me does not mean I relinquish serves as a poignant symbol of resilience. Crafted from bronze, Báez’s sculpture, due to this material selection, infuses her contemporary context with relevance to distinguishing it from the predominance of earlier monuments depicting prominent colonial-era figures.

In her sculpture, her human figure merges with a palm tree, creating a potent emblem of survival and adaptability. The palm tree, which thrives in challenging Caribbean climates, exemplifies resilience; its ability to bend with storms rather than break while remaining firmly rooted also resonates with themes of migration and feminism.

Báez's work is a compelling catalyst in contemporary culture, resonating with insights from Walter Mignolo and Madina V. Tlostanova in Learning to Unlearn: Decolonial Reflections from Eurasia and the Americas.

The perfect diagram for me is one that I can immediately be irreverent towards. One that has so much information that it becomes clear that my time and its time are so obviously out of sync. One where you can immediately start the conversation about the discourse between the times and spaces that created both of us. The pages [antiquated pages, blueprints, and maps] become almost points of navigation. Firelei Báez

Anacaona (destroy the beauty that has injured me), Oil and acrylic on archival printed canvas, 90 x 81 1/2 in, 2024. Photo: Keith Lubow © Firelei Báez. Courtesy of the artist and Hauser & Wirth.

Through Báez’s exploration of identity, migration, and feminism, the artist tackles timely and profoundly relevant issues in today's complex social landscape. Her work as art reflects the pressing issues of our time like a mirror, engaging the audience and connecting them to the contemporary discourse.

The book Firelei Báez, edited by Eva Respini in collaboration with the artist, provides a comprehensive exploration of Báez’s oeuvre. For those interested in delving deeper, it is available at Hauser & Wirth Bookshop. WM