Firelei Báez’s UK Debut Explores Ciguapa Myth at South London Gallery

Firelei Báez’s first solo exhibition in the UK, 'Sueño de la Madrugada (A Midnight’s Dream),' runs from 28 June to 8 September at South London Gallery. The show centers on the ciguapa, a mythical Dominican creature with backward-facing feet, using installations, poured-paint silhouettes, and works on found pages to weave folklore, colonial history, and Vodou symbolism. In the main gallery, aluminium ciguapa silhouettes (e.g., 'Numinous (the beautiful terror of eternity)' and 'Joy out of fire') float amid blue tarpaulin with eyelike slits, while a floor piece features a Haitian Vodou symbol in LED neon on sand. A soundscape blends London traffic, Caribbean cicadas, and waves. At the nearby Fire Station building, four wall-size canvases show poured-paint techniques with ciguapa forms. Works on yellowed found pages, such as 'A modest mythology of walls,' overlay plantation scenes and Caribbean maps with intricate designs. The exhibition invites viewers into multiple intersecting worlds, real and imagined, without offering a single vantage point.