Tschabalala Self and the Power of Self Definition in American Art

Photographed by Christian DeFonte

In American visual culture, Black women have often been seen before they have been understood. The image arrives first. Context comes later, if at all. Tschabalala Self works inside that reality with clarity and control, reshaping the figure in ways that center authorship rather than explanation.

Self’s work is rooted in construction. Using paint, fabric, and collage, she builds bodies that feel intentional and fully realized. These are not portraits designed to flatter or perform. They are figures that exist on their own terms, shaped by experience, posture, and presence.

Born in Harlem, Self’s practice is grounded in Black American life and the visual systems that surround it. Fashion, advertising, and popular media all inform her work, not as references to be cited, but as material to be reworked. Her figures feel familiar without being predictable. They live in conversation with the culture that produced them, while remaining firmly self possessed.

Mixed media is essential to how Self approaches the body. Fabric becomes structure rather than ornament. Stitching becomes part of the form. Texture remains visible. These choices resist the smoothness and simplification that American imagery often demands. Instead, her figures hold weight. They feel assembled with care and intention, not reduced to surface.

Coco, 2013 Oil on paper The Studio Museum in Harlem; bequest of Peggy Cooper Cafritz (1947–2018), Washington, D.C. collector, educator, and activist

There is confidence in her work, but it is not performative. Her figures are expressive without being exaggerated for effect. They hold humor, strength, vulnerability, and control at the same time. Proportions stretch. Shapes shift. Nothing feels overly refined, and that restraint is deliberate.

Self does not create work that explains Blackness to the viewer. She assumes it. Her figures do not soften themselves to become more digestible. They do not exist to be decoded. They exist to be seen as complete.

Within the landscape of American art, Tschabalala Self’s work stands as an example of what it looks like when the subject holds the power of representation. Her practice is not about revision or reaction. It is about presence and self-definition. For Black History Month, her work reminds us that history is not only something we look back on. It is something that continues to take shape through artists who decide how they will be seen, without compromise.

Works by Tschabalala Self include Entwined (2014), oil and gouache on paper; Sprewell (2020), fabric, painted canvas, silk, jeans, painted newsprint, paper, stamp, thread, photo transfer, and acrylic on canvas; Black Blonde (2025), acrylic paint, oil paint, fabric, thread, and painted canvas on canvas; and Anthurium (2023), hand dyed canvas, velvet, cotton cloth, painted canvas, thread, pastel, acrylic paint, and oil paint on canvas.

Stay Connected with Tschabalala Self