A nude supermarket escapade by Tschabalala Self, the ascendent American artist creating “a new visual lexicon for the Black female body”, in the words of Louise Benson for Elephant 43. “If you’re looking at the ideal physique in the African diaspora, it is more of a robust, larger woman,” Self told Benson of the shapely protagonists that punctuate her large-scale works. “I personally lean towards exaggeration in the forms… because I think there’s this cultural affect to play with. If the body is larger, having more weight to it and being more voluptuous, there’s more material to build in and manipulate pictorially… and in my mind, [the figures] feel more powerful” Purchase Elephant 43 here.
