Firelie Báez: Road Map of Symbols

The Dominican diaspora artist, Firelie Báez, is painting in the history of resilient Afro Caribbean women and making their acts of defiance more readily known through various works such as Bloodlines and Sans-Souci. Báez imbeds images in her artwork that follows the slavery movement from Africa to the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, then ultimately to the rich cultural past of Louisiana. Báez’s work is a full on multi-sensory experience. She provokes different responses with her diverse styles of media. The artist’s subtle but powerful narrative found within her work promoted by her dynamic range of color selection, makes the viewer entranced and engaged with various histories being told in one painting. One can initially feel the importance of Firelie’s works. However, upon deeper historical research the true weight behind the symbolic images embed in her work begin to resonate upon a knowledgeable viewer even more acutely. Firelie Báez depicts these acts of defiance while coupling them with other strong moments of resistance that alludes to the profound. The pooling of power, one act of defiance may derive strength and inspiration from another act of defiant strength creating a much more powerful wave.