Tschabalala Self

Jenna Arvelo
Professor Cacoilo
Critical Artist Expression

Tschabalala Self

 I find Tschabalala Self particularly interesting because of her unique fascination with the black female body. As a black woman herself, she plays with the cultural attitude towards race and gender by distorting and exaggerating the proportions of these bodies to draw out the accepted and rejected fantasies surrounding black female bodies in modern society. She uses mixed medias to create her pieces; particularly through print making, recycled material, collage and painting materials. She has also recently dabbled with creating gifs using her drawings. Her art is somewhat explicitly political an adheres to the lives of black women and comparing the way sexuality affects the image of a black woman in contrast to a white woman. In a way, she is unapologetically reclaiming the image of the black female body by throwing these stereotypes an labels about our bodies back in the face of society. With that being said she is also trying to define what the black body signifies. Having been defined as an object as well as a means for breeding and production during slavery; there are lingering perceptions about the black female form that needs to be challenged and redefined, and I think Self's art is just scraping the surface of what it will take to reclaim the image of the black female form.