Firelei Baez at James Cohan Gallery

Under a recreation of the night sky as it appeared at the start of the Haitian Revolution, Firelei Baez presents a dramatic installation at James Cohan Gallery’s Lower East Side space featuring empowered female figures who assert their presence in the gallery and in history.  Wearing a tignon that refers to the 18th century legal requirement for African-diasporic women to cover their hair, this casually posed yet regal figure lacks a mouth yet speaks with her eyes.  (On view through June 16th).

Firelei Baez, installation view of A Drexcyen Chronocommons (To win the war you fought it sideways) at James Cohan Gallery on the Lower East Side, April 2019.