Sueño de la Madrugada (A Midnight’s Dream) is Firelei Báez’s first solo exhibition in the UK. Known for her striking paintings, she also makes drawings, installations, and sculptures. Báez takes over the South London Gallery with new immersive installations and large abstract paintings. She uses rich colours, elements from nature, sound and light to reflect on complex colonial histories.
The exhibition is a journey through vibrant spaces where ecology, power, and resistance interact.
Through research and critical engagement with archives, Báez examines the legacies of the Afro-Caribbean diaspora. For her, myths and folklore are tools of cultural and spiritual resistance. Sueño de la Madrugada (A Midnight’s Dream) shares stories of the Ciguapa, a mythological figure from Dominican folklore; Atabey, the Taino mother earth spirit; Oshun, the Yoruba god of rivers, love, beauty, and prosperity; and Erzili, a spirit of love from Haitian Vodou.
These mythical figures invite viewers to reconsider what it means to be human, and to imagine freedom from earthly constraints.
“My works are propositions, meant to create alternate pasts and potential futures, questioning history and culture in order to provide a space for reassessing the present.” — Firelei Báez
The exhibition is curated by the 2023-24 New Curators fellows: Carol Bedoy, Courtney Brown, Felix Choong, Lemeeze Davids, Rosie Fitter, Lucia Jurikova, Aditi Kapoor, Makella Ama Ketedzi, Rey Londres, Nikita Sena Quarshie and Amandine Vabre Chau. 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.
South London Gallery until 8th September. Admission: Free.
Main Building: 65–67 Peckham Road, London SE5 8UH
Fire Station: 82 Peckham Road, London SE15 5LQ
Full details: https://www.southlondongallery.org/
