Firelei Báez

Racial identity through the prism of gender is one of the main themes of the works of the Dominican artist. The use of forms, colours and patterns to represent the skin colours of her characters brings down racial barriers and shifts toward a melting pot fraught with hybridization and discoveries despite immigrations and thanks to increasing exchanges.

One of her points of focus is also the incorporation of elements of popular culture to her work such as the study of hair and hairdos, which carry traditions and culture. The identities of the individuals she depicts are no longer tied to their skin colour or their appearance and do not bear any definition because they are too multiple to be stigmatized within one category.

“My works consist in paintings, drawings, and prints which interrogate my physical being, my personal history and the Caribbean folklore. The Caribbean folklore allows malleability in the creation of one’s self” explains Firelei Báez.