Firelei Báez at the ICA Watershed | ICA/Boston

Artist Firelei Báez takes you behind the scenes of her largest, most spectacular sculptural installation to date, which reimagines the archeological ruins of the Sans-Souci Palace in Haiti as though they were revealed in East Boston after the sea receded from the ICA Watershed floor. Pointing to the centuries-long exchanges of ideas and influence between Europe, the African continent, and the Americas, this site-specific installation invites visitors to traverse passageways and travel through time, engaging with streams of influence and interconnectedness. The work’s intricately painted architectural surfaces include symbols of healing and resistance, patterning drawn from West African indigo printing traditions (later used in the American South), and sea growths native to Caribbean waters.