[Script Info]
Title: 
[Events]
Format: Layer, Start, End, Style, Name, MarginL, MarginR, MarginV, Effect, Text
Dialogue: 0,0:00:11.74,0:00:15.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,FIRELEI BÁEZ:\NIn most power relationships,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:16.72,0:00:19.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,you have the victim trying to solve the situation.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:22.00,0:00:24.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I don't want to create narratives of victimhood.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:25.60,0:00:29.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I want to flip it.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:31.12,0:00:35.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The freedom that I offer in each painting\Nis in the mutable body.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:37.28,0:00:39.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In having bodies in constant transition,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:40.88,0:00:44.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it leaves it open for the viewer to\Nshift ideas of power.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:45.76,0:00:48.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In that process,\Nyou shift the world around you.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:50.08,0:00:57.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That's where beauty can be subversive.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:28.32,0:01:28.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,["Firelei Báez: An Open Horizon (or)\Nthe Stillness of a Wound"]
Dialogue: 0,0:01:28.64,0:01:30.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,If it were up to me,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:30.00,0:01:32.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I'd be a hermit in some mountain seascape,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:33.48,0:01:34.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[LAUGHS]
Dialogue: 0,0:01:34.48,0:01:38.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and I'd have my giant space with open windows,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:38.56,0:01:39.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and f*** it if rains comes in.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:41.84,0:01:53.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That's the dream.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:53.84,0:01:55.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[CHORAL SINGING]
Dialogue: 0,0:01:55.20,0:01:57.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Firelei's studio, The Bronx]
Dialogue: 0,0:01:57.68,0:01:59.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But I remember always making.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:00.24,0:02:01.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Maybe one time when I was six,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:03.04,0:02:07.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,other kids would have me draw out these\Nvery fancy "mariquitas" for them.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:09.28,0:02:11.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I would have these elaborate ball gowns.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:12.24,0:02:14.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They would always have very intricate hair.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:18.32,0:02:21.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I was always dealing with the body.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:23.92,0:02:28.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,My earliest childhood was in Loma de Cabrera,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:28.72,0:02:32.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which is right at the border of\NDominican Republic and Haiti.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:32.40,0:02:35.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[ARCHIVAL VOICE OVER]\N--Should you go straight out
Dialogue: 0,0:02:35.12,0:02:37.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,--from that southeast end of Cuba,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:37.20,0:02:40.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,--you will come next to the second largest\Nisland of the romantic archipelago.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:42.88,0:02:46.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We would make all these assumptions of what\Nit is to be someone from the Caribbean,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:47.36,0:02:50.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and when you fall outside that,\Nthen you can get something better.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:53.92,0:02:56.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,One of the first reasons that I wanted to\Nwork on these paintings
Dialogue: 0,0:02:56.80,0:03:00.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,was looking at some of the first\Nscientific illustrations
Dialogue: 0,0:03:00.32,0:03:02.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of flora and fauna from the New World.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:02.64,0:03:03.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Looking at Carl Linneaus,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:05.76,0:03:09.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,here is this guy who was the foundation of\Nmodern scientific methods--
Dialogue: 0,0:03:09.84,0:03:12.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of observation and categorization.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:13.52,0:03:17.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But so much of his work was sheer nonsense.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:19.84,0:03:24.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It equated the New World Black and Brown body
Dialogue: 0,0:03:24.24,0:03:25.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,with beastiality.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:29.84,0:03:32.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In telling of what the New World people were,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:32.80,0:03:35.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,you'd be next to cannibals and vampires--
Dialogue: 0,0:03:37.92,0:03:42.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,so, leaning into their already fallible vision
Dialogue: 0,0:03:42.88,0:03:44.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and making something new.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:47.52,0:03:50.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In reading my paintings of "ciguapas,"
Dialogue: 0,0:03:50.08,0:03:54.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I'm asking the viewer to come to terms\Nwith their own feelings
Dialogue: 0,0:03:54.32,0:03:56.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,around a woman's body.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:00.42,0:04:05.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Ciguapa: A mythological \Ncreature of Domincan folklore]
Dialogue: 0,0:04:06.11,0:04:08.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The ciguapa is this trickster figure.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:08.64,0:04:10.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,She is a seductress.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:11.20,0:04:15.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Someone will be lured by her and then \Nbe completely lost and never seen again.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:18.64,0:04:21.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The description is so ambiguous.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:21.60,0:04:24.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It can be anything from a mongoose,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:24.08,0:04:26.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to the most beautiful woman,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:26.00,0:04:28.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to the most ugly woman.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:28.24,0:04:30.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The only certain thing is \Nthat her legs are backwards--
Dialogue: 0,0:04:31.60,0:04:35.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,if you followed their footsteps, you \Nwere going in the wrong direction--
Dialogue: 0,0:04:36.64,0:04:40.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and that she has this lustrous mane of hair.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:41.36,0:04:44.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,She was meant to be something \Nthat made us so fearful
Dialogue: 0,0:04:44.48,0:04:48.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that we could be quiet for long \Nenough to be groomed into civility.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:55.12,0:04:57.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The normative tone of the story
Dialogue: 0,0:04:58.24,0:05:01.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is these are wanton female creatures.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:01.12,0:05:04.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They're hyper-sexual and they derail culture.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:05.68,0:05:08.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The understory is they are highly independent,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:09.20,0:05:10.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,they're self-possessed,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:10.96,0:05:12.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and they feel deeply.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:14.72,0:05:16.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So who would want to be that?
Dialogue: 0,0:05:18.96,0:05:21.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,What was exciting in using that image
Dialogue: 0,0:05:21.12,0:05:25.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,was to be able to incorporate all \Nthose things that were labeled abject--
Dialogue: 0,0:05:25.68,0:05:28.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that were seen as unwanted--
Dialogue: 0,0:05:28.32,0:05:31.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and reframe them as something beautiful
Dialogue: 0,0:05:31.12,0:05:33.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and with an eye of desire.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:36.39,0:05:40.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,["Ciguapa Antellana," 2018, Harlem]
Dialogue: 0,0:05:42.48,0:05:44.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I recently went to my aunts, and she was like,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:44.80,0:05:47.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"You know, I never would have \Nthought you would be an artist."
Dialogue: 0,0:05:48.24,0:05:51.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,She was the one who was\Nraising us when I was about seven.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:53.04,0:05:56.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,For her, she saw it as a \Nlittle bit of troublemaking,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:57.92,0:06:00.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because I'd be the one \Ntrying to sew paper together
Dialogue: 0,0:06:00.88,0:06:03.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and getting my finger stuck in the needle.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:04.40,0:06:06.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Like sewing right through my finger.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:06.00,0:06:08.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But I was just like, "I want to bind my book."
Dialogue: 0,0:06:08.16,0:06:10.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"It's going to be the thing. \NI'm going to make it perfect."
Dialogue: 0,0:06:14.40,0:06:18.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They did call me...I don't know if it \Nwas "The Demolisher" or "The Hellion."
Dialogue: 0,0:06:18.24,0:06:19.03,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[LAUGHS]
Dialogue: 0,0:06:20.24,0:06:22.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Whenever I imagine a painter,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:22.72,0:06:24.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it's someone who is very composed--
Dialogue: 0,0:06:24.88,0:06:26.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,kind of like a "lady painter."
Dialogue: 0,0:06:27.12,0:06:29.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But, I feel like a car mechanic.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:32.80,0:06:35.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,My mom is a master seamstress.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:35.92,0:06:38.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,She can make really beautiful things.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:38.16,0:06:41.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But she was so caught up in a 100-hour work week
Dialogue: 0,0:06:42.80,0:06:45.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that she always does things for bare function.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:46.56,0:06:48.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It makes for a lot of precarity.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:49.04,0:06:52.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So none of the things that you build tend to last.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:53.52,0:06:56.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I'm trying to break that cycle \Nand teach my nephews and nieces
Dialogue: 0,0:06:56.88,0:07:01.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to think of themselves as part \Nof longer cycles behind them
Dialogue: 0,0:07:01.04,0:07:03.13,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and long cycles before them--
Dialogue: 0,0:07:04.08,0:07:08.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that every choice that we make is predicated \Nby the people we hope to love in the future
Dialogue: 0,0:07:08.72,0:07:10.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and the people we love in the past.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:14.24,0:07:16.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's always within your grasp
Dialogue: 0,0:07:16.64,0:07:18.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to make something new.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:19.68,0:07:20.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's exhausting,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:22.32,0:07:24.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but limitless.