Collector of Shouts (April 21), Firelei Báez

Afro-Latinx artist Firelei Báez creates defiant forms of portraiture that reveal the subtleties of overlapping identities and celebrate Black and Latinx women. Layering abstract swirls of paint with opaque and ambiguous figures, Báez sometimes uses her own image for inspiration. The figure’s layered skin tones suggest fluidity of race and color and avoid a scrutinizing gaze. Perhaps collecting, or deflecting, shouts along the way, Báez says the figure serves to “disrupt the current system of social categorization.”