Tschabalala Self is a Harlem-born mixed media painter. She uses intricately patterned fabrics and broad loose brushstrokes to depict Black bodies. In her words:

The work is political because it’s politicized; politicized bodies are featured in the work. I’m a political person because if I wasn’t a political person, that would affect my safety and well-being in the country. But that’s not why I’m making the work. I’m making the work to leave a document of the experience of people who are like me.

Self is particularly interested in highlighting women’s bodies and the experiences of black women. At her exhibition at MoMA PS1, I felt as if I was being enveloped by her life-size canvases. The figures challenge you in a way. They take up nearly the whole canvas. They often stare back at you, refusing to be looked at without looking back.

They’re almost intimidating, but not in a violent way, more-so in an awe-inspiring way. The way a deity is intimidating. But they’re vulnerable at the same time. The woman in Origin is reminiscent of a fertility goddess. A spiritual being personifying creation, life, birth, and abundance. Her pose resembles a circle which symbolize the continuous cycle of birth and death. And the centralization of her vagina reminds us of our origins.

Self presents Black women and queer bodies as fluid forms and identities. They cannot be reduced to a single story or pinned down to a single incomplete trait. They take up the space even though it’s been historically discouraged and is still to this day discouraged. Black woman who take up space are time and time again considered aggressive. So what is the alternative? To be passive? Self’s women assert themselves.

The patterns and textures recall quilts like the ones Black women (think Harriet Powers, Faith Ringgold, Bisa Butler) have handcrafted to convey stories. Through Self’s works, we can see patterns–in the way these paintings carry on the narratives and ideas put forward by many other Black female artists.