SUEÑO DE LA MADRUGADA
(A MIDNIGHT’S DREAM)
A Firelei Báez Solo Show
Press release and Gallery Guide / ★★★★ The Guardian Review
“At its core, the power of art lies in its ability to dismantle barriers and help you connect. There's something radical about forging connections and breaking through the confines of narrow identities or isolated environments. Sometimes, our attachments or affiliations can be so ingrained that they blind us to other perspectives or realities. Art can open our eyes to new possibilities and understandings.”
- Firelei Báez
Firelei Báez: Sueño de la Madrugada (A Midnight’s Dream), 2024. South London Gallery. Photo: Above Ground
The exhibition is curated by the 2023-24 New Curators fellows: Carol Bedoy (Mexico/USA), Courtney Brown (USA), Felix Choong (UK), Lemeeze Davids (South Africa), Rosie Fitter (UK), Lucia Jurikova (Slovakia), Aditi Kapoor (India), Makella Ama Ketedzi (Ghana/UK), Rey Londres (USA/Cuba), Nikita Sena (UK/Ghana) and Amandine Vabre Chau (Hong Kong/France). 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. This unique programme is designed to equip the next generation of curators with the knowledge, practical skills, networks, and confidence needed to thrive in the contemporary art world and transform it from within. The programme comprises academic seminars, skills training sessions, extensive networking opportunities, coaching and mentorship, and practical experience working collaboratively on a major exhibition.
Firelei Báez: Sueño de la Madrugada (A Midnight’s Dream), 2024. South London Gallery. Photo: Above Ground
Main Gallery
In the main gallery, Báez draws on her experiences of climate change and migration to create an immersive installation. The azure canopy overhead, reminiscent of hurricane tarpaulins, signifies a troubled relationship between refuge and calamity. Light filters through the fabric, evoking the dappled sunlight below forest canopies and depths of the ocean. Inside this atmospheric environment, Báez's large-scale aluminium silhouettes of Ciguapas, figures from Dominican folklore, are both foreboding and elusive.
Ciguapas appear throughout the exhibition, but they are not confined to a single form. As in the myth, they evade easy interpretation. Two key traits persist: their backwards-facing feet, rendering them untraceable, and their flowing, lustrous mane. Recalling childhood stories, Báez envisions Ciguapas as being fluid in gender, embodying diverse identities. By painting these mythical creatures, Báez enables viewers to reconsider what it means to be human, and to imagine freedom from earthly constraints.
“When someone hears a story about Ciguapas from an outsider's perspective, they might wonder about the purpose of such myths. After all, stories don't directly provide food or actual solutions to real-world problems. But humans tend to do extraordinary things when they believe others have done them before. So, a story serves as a pathway for achieving something beyond the ordinary, inspiring action and resilience.” - Firelei Báez
Firelei Báez: Sueño de la Madrugada (A Midnight’s Dream), 2024. South London Gallery. Photo: Above Ground
Fire Station
At the Fire Station, Báez's works move fluidly between abstraction and figuration. A series of floor-to-ceiling abstract paintings envelops the first gallery, immersing visitors in a vibrant, dynamic environment drenched with colour and transitioning from day to night.
In the second gallery, Báez has transformed old book pages by layering figurative elements, symbolic imagery, and abstract gestures, turning them into vessels for alternative interpretations and multi-authored histories. Each page, when viewed individually, invites intimacy, presenting what seems to be a single picture. Viewers gain a sense of multiple narratives as they move from examining the miniature details to observing the broader constellation.
The paintings of Ciguapas reappear through colour-drenched silhouettes upstairs. Their exuberant, rippled surfaces hint at their expansive and unknowable inner worlds. Colonial powers have often tried to categorise and explain "the Other," creating fixed and reductive narratives. In Báez's works, ambiguity becomes a form of agency and resistance. In a refusal to be constrained by external presumptions or expectations, this agency can also help us transform the future.
Sueño de la Madrugada (A Midnight’s Dream) creates a journey through liminal spaces where ecology, power dynamics, and resistance intersect. Viewers are challenged to contemplate dual geographies, conflicting realities, and the contradictions inherent in seeking refuge amidst calamity.
“I want to empower the diaspora and young people to envision possibilities beyond the constraints of the present, towards a future rooted in vibrant, thriving, and deeply personal narratives.” - Firelei Báez
Firelei Báez: Sueño de la Madrugada (A Midnight’s Dream), 2024. South London Gallery. Photo: Above Ground
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 will be the subject of her first major US survey at the I.C.A. Boston, curated by Eva Respini. 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.
Firelei Báez: Sueño de la Madrugada (A Midnight’s Dream), 2024. South London Gallery.
Public Programming
Firelei Báez in conversation with Alvaro Barrington
Fri 28 Jun, 6-8pm
£10 / £5
Main Gallery
Join us for a conversation between artists Firelei Báez and Alvaro Barrington.
Somatic Movement Workshop
Sat 20 /Sun 21 Jul, 9-11pm
£10 / £5
Main Gallery
This interactive workshop encourages participants to slow down and consider the body as a mutating ecosystem in connection to the sounds and themes of the exhibition.
Film Night with Brixton Community Cinema and Garden of Afruika
Weds 31 Jul, 5-9pm
£10 / £5
Main Gallery
An evening of films programmed by Brixton Community Cinema exploring spirituality and ecology. The screening will be followed by a sharing circle and food catered by Garden of Afruika.
Nature Walk with Misery Collective
Sat 10 Aug, 5-6pm
Free
Local parks and green spaces in Peckham and Camberwell
A walk around local south London parks, gardens and green spaces, led by members of misery party, a sober QTIBPOC mental health collective.
Misery Party - Gallery Takeover
Sat 10 Aug, 6-8:30pm
£10 / £5
Main Gallery
A relaxed evening of board games in the Main Gallery.
Curators' Tours
Weds 10 Jul, 24 Jul, 7 Aug, 6:30- 7:30pm
Free
Main Gallery Space and Fire Station
Join us for a curator-led tour of the exhibition.