Tschabalala Self

Sapphire 2020

Sagaponack

Tschabalala Self is an American artist born in Harlem in 1990.  

Self is best known for her depictions of Black female figures using paint, fabric, and discarded pieces of her previous works that are sewn together in quilt-like portraits.   She was inspired in part by her mother, who was a seamstress and repurposed old clothes into new outfits for the children.  Though Self uses mixed media, all of her works are on canvas.  Her figures “defy the narrow spaces in which they are forced to exist” in an oppressive society.  She reclaims the black female body and portrays them to be free of stereotypes without having to fear being punished.  She has been called the “Anti Picasso.”  
One of her earliest works, sewn with her mother’s sewing machine, was Love to Saartjie, 2015, which is an homage to Saartjie Baartman (1789-1815), the 19th-century South African Khoikhoi woman who was exploited and exhibited in Europe as the Hottentot Venus.

Articles:

https://www.pbs.org/video/art-assignment-tschabalala/

10 Things to know about Tschabalala Self