Firelei Báez: Joy Out of Fire Exhibition Guide

Firelei Bรกez

Joy Out of Fire Exhibition Guide

This publication was organized on the occasion of the exhibition Firelei Báez: Joy Out of Fire at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture from May 1–November 24, 2018.

The Studio Museum in Harlem 144 West 125th Street New York, NY 10027 studiomuseum.org © 2018 The Studio Museum in Harlem All images courtesy the artist and Kavi Gupta Gallery unless otherwise noted Images on page 18 courtesy Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture Image on page 22 courtesy The Studio Museum in Harlem Interview © Firelei Báez and Hallie Ringle All other text © The Studio Museum in Harlem Firelei Báez: Joy Out of Fire was organized by Hallie Ringle, Assistant Curator Copyedited by Samir S. Patel Printed by Direct Printing Impressions

Cover: To write fire until it is every breath (detail), 2018

s

Firelei Bรกez

Joy Out of Fire Exhibition Guide

New York– and Miami-based artist Firelei Báez often examines representations of women in her work, particularly Afro-Caribbean and Afro-Latina women in visual culture and history. In this exhibition, Báez features women whose legacies are preserved and maintained in the archives of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, and reimagines them in conversation. Each work represents an invented dialogue between women from different eras and walks of life, including important women of color whose contributions have historically been overlooked or thought of as secondary to those of their male counterparts.

In creating Joy Out of Fire, Báez visited the archives over several months, where she mined the holdings for inspiration, with recommendations from the archivists. The resulting tapestry-like works are ethereal amalgamations of the artist’s archival findings and her rethinking of figurative representation. Báez expands the field of group portraiture by combining drafted figures and patterned text composed of excerpts from diaries and manuscripts, along with vintage photographs.

The title, Joy Out of Fire, is a reference to the incredible accomplishments of these women, who persevered despite the many hurdles—from lack of educational opportunities to racial and gender discrimination—between them and success. Báez honors her subjects, challenges dominant narratives of history, and questions who holds the power to tell their stories. Each work is arranged on the perimeter of the gallery across from selections from the archives. The result is a celebratory and reflective space within the Schomburg Center.

Contents

Firelei Bรกez in Conversation with Hallie Ringle P/ 6

From the Archive P/ 12

Look and Learn P/ 20

Key Terms and Questions to Consider P/ 24

Artist Biography and Checklist P/ 27

Firelei Bรกez in Conversation with Hallie Ringle

Hallie Ringle: How did you come to this idea of using women from the archive of the Schomburg Center in your project?

Firelei Báez: For this particular project we wanted to reflect the collection of the Schomburg. It’s such an incredible space that it would be kind of a crime not to use their resources. I wanted to be true to my work while being respectful of the collection. Specifically, I am interested in the intergenerational conversation between the women in the archive. My practice incorporates women’s voices and seeks to amplify narratives that are not necessarily part of the mainstream by giving them a platform.

I usually focus on putting a global context to Caribbean narratives or history. Most Caribbean history featured in the Schomburg archive, like in many archives, is militaryand male-focused, without much material on the women who participated in shaping these stories.

7

I decided to cast a net for all the women I could find in the archive. Originally we had around twenty-seven women, and we just kept expanding the list based on archivist recommendations. Now there’s around forty-seven.

HR: That seems like a daunting task!

How did the archives help you create these portraits?

FB: Finding a way to feature each woman’s voice and bring some of the shared histories to light was challenging. Recognizing that each part of the archive is a constructed space, created by the subjects or their families, made it hard to find concrete materials at times. There are some women who have large archives, such as Deborah Willis, who has seventy-five amazing boxes of material, but there are very few personal effects in that.

With that in mind, I was focused on getting as much visual and textual information as

Joy Out of Fire, 2018

possible. Your team at the Studio Museum helped, along with Gina Malick and Camille Hoffman from my studio. After we got as much as we could, editing that in the studio was a whole other process.

It was really tough, because how do you place all these really complex women into tidy categories? So we created all kinds of files, Excel files of what they did and who they were connected to. In the end, I wanted to see if there is a way to find connections or loose categories for each person.

I was interested in how the echo of a person is felt through these materials. There is a specific methodology to archiving, and I wanted to mirror that practice in my works.

I kept asking myself, “How do I, as a painter, make that presence felt?” Gradually, it was about going through all of the fragments and creating an experience, going through all these different departments to create a whole impression of the person.

HR: Did the archive influence how you understood each person’s legacy?

8

FB: I was particularly influenced by traces of each person’s physical hand. For example, the Meta Warrick Fuller archive had these beautiful diaries. She lived such a complex, rich life and kept a diary from when she was seventeen to when she was ninety-one, so it shows you the full arc of her life. Other women’s archives were buried within men’s archives, so I wanted to recognize that I was looking in a very privileged space. I wanted to be able to question who actually gets to be formally included and whose archives are tangential.

The paintings are, in some ways, murals.

They’re physical, they’re meant to be both experienced visually as well as read. In a way, the audience is following a similar process to mine when I accessed the archives, and I want to allow them to be able to pull these really rich threads for a deeper investigation of what each woman represents—just like I did with the archives.

HR: You mentioned you were highlighting connections between the women in the

To write fire until it is every breath, 2018

paintings. How did you think about incorporating those relationships?

FB: After I made this spreadsheet demonstrating the connections between each person, I split the list into three categories: mind, body, and spirit. I wanted to show how the women affected our society on each of those three levels.

Within the work there’s significant overlap and intersection, the recognition that many women made many significant contributions in all categories. I kept thinking of these three ideas or energies as Yoruba òrìşà. For mind, I thought of Yemoja, the mother goddess who is associated with water and regenerative spirit, whose color is blue. So I put the librarians, academics, and politicians in those paintings. The yellow paintings represent Òsun, òrìşà of love, empathy, intimacy, beauty, and wealth. For me it represents love in all of its complexity.

The entertainers, dancers, artists, and actors, are in yellow because Òsun is so connected to the body. Òya, òrìşà of fire,

9

wind, lightning, magic, and fertility, is represented in red. She’s this warrior spirit, so the activists, community-shapers, and consciousness-raisers are together in that category.

Many of the women fall into multiple categories, especially because the archive represents the entirety of their lives, and they navigate through all these colors from childhood to old age. That reflects the idea that many people do not stay a single thing. There might be a librarian who was also very involved in her community, so she might go from blue to red.

The palette also reflects the archive itself. In the gallery you can see four Aaron Douglas paintings through the interior windows of the galleries. He’s such a beautiful colorist that I wanted to allude to his palette. The gallery also looks directly onto the archives, this tease of accessibility. If you went through the proper channels you could go in and see the archives, but the main way most

Untitled, 2018

Luminously Indiscreet and Untitled (installation view), 2018

people see them is through these slivers of windows. I wanted to bring them out, so that color from the interior is reflected outside.

HR: The archives extending outwards into the galleries …

FB: Yes. So the mind, body, and spirit colors I chose for the outside are reflected in Douglas’s inside paintings. But I also wanted this to be a very womanly space that is fully self-possessed. Douglas’s paintings in the interior space feature mostly men. Even though there are some extremely important and revolutionary concepts in his works, they privilege the male body, so I wanted to provide a counterbalance.

HR: The gallery of the exhibition, Latimer/ Edison Gallery, is shaped like a doughnut and I think it’s the perfect place because it creates this immersive history. Viewers have to acknowledge each figure in the paintings. Aside from being able to see

12

the archives and Douglas paintings, how has the physical space influenced your work?

FB: Besides Douglas, another work I quoted is by a Chinese artist, Yuan Yao, called Elegant gathering in a secluded garden (c. mid-1700s). It’s a series of six panels and is at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and you can enter from any point.

It’s a nonhierarchical way of seeing space, where you get a feeling of environment and architecture and the human scale all at once. There’s no privileging of time in the inner space. In the same way, you can view the Schomburg gallery from the left or right, and travel through time at your own pace. I included women from different areas in the same paintings, and I didn’t want to create a hierarchy in the archive itself either. I wanted to treat every woman equally.

I also referenced Elia Alba’s Supper Club and Black Women Artists for Black Lives Matter, to create spaces for conversations

Luminously Indiscreet, 2018

that are nurturing and healing, but also specific. As humans, we are a reflection of many, many things before us, and you can’t build if you don’t know your foundation.

HR: Much of your previous works explored concepts from imperialism and postcolonialism to philosophies, religion, and culture. How have these ideas worked into the exhibition?

FB: The work in the exhibition is an extension of all that. These women in the archive are—just to have been included— extraordinary. I wanted my work to bring out how human they are, even though they can be almost larger-than-life, heroes within their communities. They are the foundation for our progress today. They were also complex humans, and I wanted to bring a person-to-person relationship to life in the paintings. I want people to feel it, to experience these women as people.

13

magnitude and bond, 2018

Elegant gathering in a secluded garden (or the many bridges we crossed), 2018

From the Archive 16

During her tenure as curator and later chief at the Schomburg Center, Jean Blackwell Hutson built what was once a personal collection into the institution we revere today. Her dedication to the preservation of documents, books, and works of art that reflect the black experience drove her decades-long fight to establish the collection as a main research library in the New York Public Library system.

Working in Blackwell Hutson’s tradition, the following six archivists at the Schomburg Center care for the materials and objects in the collection. On the occasion of Joy Out of Fire, they have each spoken about a woman or group from the archives they are particularly excited to see represented.

Alexsandra M. Mitchell Shola Lynch Archivist, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division

Curator, Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division

"Joy Out of Fire captures the essence of major contributors to the black dance canon such as Katherine Dunham, Pearl Primus, and Lavinia Williams. The beauty of these women and their archives, to me, lies in their diasporic roots and routes— representations of their archives can be found here at the Schomburg, and also at other national and international repositories, because they all traveled and taught students in the United States, Caribbean, and Europe. Their 'archives' are endless."

"Mary Lou Williams was very much a connector with the [male musicians of her time] … They didn't call her Mama Mary or anything, but she was also like many of the women in the civil rights movement— Ella Baker, or even Septima Clark. They are activists, but they are also teaching the next generation of young men."

Tammi Lawson

Associate Curator, Art and Artifacts Division "The Schomburg has the largest collection of Augusta Savage's work. Every artist after the Harlem Renaissance came through her: Norman Lewis, Romare Bearden. She was such a powerful woman … [The men who attended her workshops] don’t like to give her the credit that she deserves, but all through her papers, all through her artists' files, you know that she was a powerful woman."

Maira Liriano

Associate Chief Librarian, Jean Blackwell Hutson Research and Reference Division "Maritcha Lyons was someone who … all her life was fighting the fight and not getting a lot of recognition, because she was a woman, but continued to do the work. [Sadly, we only] know about her because she's included in her uncle's papers. As a part of his papers there is a memoir that she wrote and never published."

17

Megan Williams

Librarian II, Prints and Photographs Division "Although she was well known and praised during her life, Philippa Schuyler is someone that has been lost to history. This waning recognition is likely due to the racism that prevented her from sharing her talents with a broad American audience, as well as her untimely death. Her story reveals much about our society at the time, and how one navigated the culture as a biracial, gifted child and young adult. The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture holds the Schuyler Family Papers in the Manuscripts, Archives, and Rare Book division. This collection contains a wealth of information about the family's life and it is fascinating how much detail can be gleaned through the letters, news clippings, writings, musical programs, and other materials."

Mary Yearwood

Director, Collections and Information Services; Curator, Photographs and Prints Division "Ida B. Wells is an anti-lynching journalist and activist and she's better known than her husband, who was [also] a journalist …

Black Lives Matter doesn’t happen without people like Ida B. Wells."

Clockwise from top left: Augusta Savage, artist, c. 1930s Photographer unknown Portrait Collection. Photographs and Prints Division. Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations.

Madam C.J. Walker (driving) with (left to right) her niece Anjetta Breedlove; Madam C.J. Walker Manufacturing Company factory forelady (manager) Alice Kelly; and Walker Company bookkeeper Lucy Flint, 1911 Photographer unknown Portrait Collection. Photographs and Prints Division. Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations.

Evelyn Davis, n.d.

Photographer unknown Billy Rose Theatre Collection Photograph File. Billy Rose Theatre Division. The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations.

Dancer and choreographer Pearl Primus performing her work African Ceremonial, c. 1944 Photographer unknown Portrait Collection. Photographs and Prints Division. Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations.

Pianist Philippa Schuyler (right) at a Family Night at the Library program at the Washington Heights Branch of the New York Public Library, c. 1960–69 Photographer unknown Regina Andrews Photograph Collection.

Photographs and Prints Division. Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.

The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations.

Dramatist Lorraine Hansberry at the time of her play A Raisin in the Sun opening in New Haven, Connecticut, prior to its run on Broadway, 1959 Photographer unknown Portrait Collection. Photographs and Prints Division. Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations.

Publicity photograph of Florence Mills in costume for the stage production Blackbirds of 1926 (center), 1926 Photographer unknown Billy Rose Theatre Collection Photograph File. Billy Rose Theatre Division. The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations.

Digital Schomburg provides access to trusted information, interpretation, and scholarship on the global black experience. Users worldwide can find exhibitions, books, articles, photographs, prints, audio, and video streams, as well as selected external links for research in the history and cultures of the peoples of Africa and the African diaspora. nypl.org/about/locations/schomburg/digital-schomburg You can make an appointment to visit the archive in person and do research on items that are not digitized. archives.nypl.org/scm/request_access

19

Look and Learn

Artist Firelei Báez was inspired by the many women whose stories are housed in the Schomberg Center. Who are you inspired by?

Create a list of women and draw a symbol that best represents each woman!

I am inspired by:

They are represented by:

-

-

-

-

-

Downloadable lesson plans based on works in the Studio Museum’s permanent collection offer educators the resources to incorporate more art by artists of Africa descent into their classrooms. Find a lesson plan based on Firelei Báez and many other artists' works. studiomuseum.org/lesson-plans

21

Look to the left to discover items from the Schomburg Center’s archives that inspired Firelei Båez.

Be an archivist at home! Explore your home and think about what objects you would add to this collection. Write or draw them below.

1.

2.

3.

4.

23

Key Terms Archive

Collage

A repository or collection of information.

Art technique in which different materials are assembled, glued, or layered to create a composition. Artists often use cut images, text, and other found objects to create collages.

1. Materials with a specific concentration that are perceived to have value. An archive often reflects the focus, history, and bias of the collecting institution.

2. The records of an organization, individual, or institution preserved because of their continuing value.

3. The organization responsible for selecting, preserving, and making available records determined to have permanent or continuing value.

Archivist A person whose job is to collect, organize, preserve, and help the public access original materials. Archivists can collect almost anything including, letters, photos, video, audio, newspapers, diaries, maps, official government records, digital records, and more.

Cultural Identity A person's understanding of oneself and the feeling of belonging to one or many groups. It can be related to ethnicity, nationality, occupation, ideology, etc.

Feminist A person who advocates for equal economic, political, and social human rights for people who identify as women.

Figure A representation of a body.

Historian A person who specializes in the study of history.

24

Questions to Consider Consider the following questions to think more about what you see, and the connections you might make with the artwork.

1. How does it feel to experience the artwork as you step into the space? How is this similar or different to the ways in which you've experienced art before?

2. Do you recognize any symbols, words, or images you see?

3. What similarities can you find between these symbols?

Draw It! Feeling inspired? Grab a sketchbook or use the space below to create a picture of your own!

25

Artist Biography

Checklist

Firelei Báez (b. 1981, Dominican Republic) earned her BFA from The Cooper Union School of Art in 2004, studied at the Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture in 2008, and completed her MFA at Hunter College in 2010. Her recent solo exhibitions include Firelei Báez at the Contemporary Art Center, Cincinnati; Bloodlines at the Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh, and the Perez Art Museum, Miami; and Vessel of Genealogies at the DePaul Art Museum, Chicago. Her work has recently been included in group exhibitions at The Studio Museum in Harlem, the Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Art Gallery at Columbia University, the Edgewood Gallery of Yale University School of Art, the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art, the Bronx Museum of the Arts, the Pinchuk Art Center in Kiev, and the Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach, California, among other venues and institutions.

To write fire until it is every breath, 2018 Acrylic on canvas 108 × 192 in.

Courtesy the artist and Kavi Gupta Gallery, Chicago magnitude and bond, 2018 Acrylic on canvas 108 × 192 in.

Courtesy the artist and Kavi Gupta Gallery, Chicago Untitled, 2018 Acrylic on canvas 108 × 192 in.

Courtesy the artist and Kavi Gupta Gallery, Chicago Luminously Indiscreet, 2018 Acrylic on canvas 108 × 192 in.

Courtesy the artist and Kavi Gupta Gallery, Chicago

27

Elegant gathering in a secluded garden (or the many bridges we crossed), 2018 Acrylic on canvas 108 × 192 in.

Courtesy the artist and Kavi Gupta Gallery, Chicago Joy Out of Fire, 2018 Arylic on Teklon 108 × 156 in.

Courtesy the artist and Kavi Gupta Gallery, Chicago resounds here within us, 2018 Acrylic on canvas 60 × 72 in.

Courtesy the artist and Kavi Gupta Gallery, Chicago

Opposite: Elegant gathering in a secluded garden (or the many bridges we crossed) (detail), 2018

Schomburg Center 515 Malcolm X Boulevard P. 212.491.2265 schomburgcenter.org Exhibition Hours Monday, Thursday–Saturday: 10 am–6 pm Tuesday–Wednesday: 10 am–8 pm Closed Sundays The Studio Museum in Harlem 144 West 125th Street For more information, visit studiomuseum.org @studiomuseum #inHARLEM

Schomburg Center 515 Malcom X Boulevard

28

The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture located in Harlem, New York, is a research unit of the New York Public Library system. The Center consists of three connected buildings: the Schomburg Building, the Langston Hughes Building, and the Landmark Building. It is recognized as one of the leading institutions focusing exclusively on African-American, African diaspora, and African experiences. Begun with the collections of Arturo Alfonso Schomburg ninety-three years ago, the Schomburg has collected, preserved, and provided access to materials documenting black life in America and worldwide. It has also promoted the study and interpretation of the history and culture of people of African descent. In 2015, it won the National Medal for Museum and Library Service.

Today, the Schomburg continues to serve the community not just as a center and a library, but also as a space that encourages lifelong education and exploration.

William R. Kenan Jr. Charitable Trust

While The Studio Museum in Harlem’s galleries are currently closed in preparation for a late Fall 2018 groundbreaking on our new building, the Museum is working to deepen our roots in the community through inHarlem, a dynamic set of collaborative programs in our neighborhood. Over the next few years, we will continue our groundbreaking exhibitions, thoughtprovoking conversations, and engaging art-making workshops at a variety of partner and satellite locations in Harlem, including New York Public Library branches, Maysles Cinema, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, and more.

As the Museum prepares to construct our new home, we are excited to work with our neighbors to share our mission throughout Harlem.

inHarlem is made possible thanks to Citi; the Stavros Niarchos Foundation; William R. Kenan Jr. Charitable Trust; Rockefeller Brothers Fund; and The Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation.

Support for Firelei BĂĄez: Joy Out of Fire is provided by the National Endowment for the Arts.

Education programs are made possible thanks in part to funding from Target; Gray Foundation; Con Edison; May and Samuel Rudin Family Foundation; and Joseph and Joan Cullman Foundation for the Arts. Youth Programs are supported by the Hearst Endowment Fund; and Joseph and Joan Cullman Foundation for the Arts.

Additional support is generously provided by The New York City Department of Cultural Affairs; the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature, and the New York City Council; and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.