This work is in reference to the 70,000 black women and girls in the United States currently missing. Who continue to be unnamed and uncared for, even though this should be a national crisis. The figure in this painting is inspired by an archival image of civil rights activist Freedom Riders sleeping in church pews taken by photographer Paul Schutzer circa 1961. It is a particularly tender inter-generational scene of women resting and supporting each other. In this place of respite, I center the transformative actions that can show ways beyond the spaces in our culture where care, love, and beauty are not naturally and equitably given.
—Firelei Báez