Contemporary Art Sheds Light on Slavery and Colonialism

Artist Firelei Báez uses archival canvases to depict the lasting impacts of historical injustices.

Published on Feb. 21, 2026

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Artist Firelei Báez, originally from the Dominican Republic, creates colorful and textural paintings that explore themes of slavery and colonialism. Many of her works are based on historical maps, diagrams, and documents connected to these topics, such as a painting depicting a person dissolving into water and flora on a map of the Bonnet Carré Spillway in Louisiana, which contains cemeteries for enslaved and freed African Americans. Báez's art invites viewers to learn more about these difficult histories, in contrast to some contemporary art that seems disconnected from the past.

Why it matters

Báez's art highlights how contemporary artists can use their work to shed light on difficult historical realities like slavery and colonialism, which some have tried to downplay or ignore. By grounding her paintings in archival materials, Báez encourages viewers to engage with these complex histories in a more nuanced way.

The details

Báez's paintings often use archival canvases as the base, including reproductions of historical maps, diagrams, and documents related to slavery and colonialism. For example, her 2025 work "The Earth That Remains" depicts a figure dissolving into water and flora on a map of the Bonnet Carré Spillway in Louisiana, which contains cemeteries for enslaved and freed African Americans. Another work, "Convex (recalibrating a blind spot)", is painted on a WPA-commissioned diagram of a major sugar refinery in New Orleans that was owned by a company deeply invested in the Caribbean. Báez's art contrasts with some contemporary art that seems disconnected from history.

  • Báez's 2025 work "The Earth That Remains" was recently exhibited at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago.
  • Báez's 2023 exhibition "Trust memory over history" was held at a museum in Humlebæk, Denmark.

The players

Firelei Báez

An artist from the Dominican Republic who focuses on themes of slavery and colonialism in her colorful and textural paintings.

J.M.W. Turner

A 19th century British painter whose 1840 work "The Slave Ship" depicted the Zong massacre, in which British slavers threw hundreds of slaves into the sea to make insurance claims.

Arundhati Roy

An Indian writer whose novel "The God of Small Things" explores the impacts of British colonialism and the caste system in India.

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What they’re saying

“That catalyzed a lot of change, popular knowledge, in ways that the court proceedings didn't. They didn't activate people into saying, 'Hey, this is absolutely wrong. I don't want to be complicit in this.' But that painting was able to get people to be like, 'What is this? And why are we even part of it?'”

— Firelei Báez, Artist (Vancouver Art Gallery)

“There is the impulse in a lot of histories, especially written history, to only tell the story from the victor's point of view, which many times ends up being a fiction as grand as any fable. The ability to read counter to that is mostly given to us humans through the physical memory, like the epigenetic traumas that we inherit.”

— Firelei Báez, Artist (Interview)

The takeaway

Báez's art demonstrates how contemporary artists can use their work to engage with difficult histories of slavery and colonialism in a nuanced way, inviting viewers to learn more about these complex topics rather than simply lecturing or preaching. Her approach contrasts with some contemporary art that seems disconnected from the past, highlighting the power of art to shed light on important historical realities.