Tschabalala Self

Tschabalala Self’s layered portraits feature curvaceous Black figures amid flat, patterned planes and bright, solid color blocks. The artist builds her kaleidoscopic canvases through a bricolage of painting, printmaking, sewn textiles, and collaged cutouts; as she integrates craft elements into her paintings, she explores cultural perceptions and depictions of Black femininity. Self studied at Bard College before receiving her MFA in painting and printmaking from Yale. While those media remain the core of her practice, Self makes sculptures and installations as well. She has exhibited in New York, Los Angeles, London, Berlin, Naples, Brussels, and San Francisco, and her work belongs in the collections of the Astrup Fearnley Museet in Oslo, the HOW Art Museum in Shanghai, the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, the LUMA Foundation, the Pérez Art Museum Miami, and the Yuz Museum in Shanghai. Self’s work has achieved six-figure prices at auction.