Tschabalala Self’s sculptures reveal the depth, intri- cacy, and singularity of her formal strategy and tech- niques for investigating the iconographic significance of the Black female form in contemporary culture.

Self’s sculptural practice has become vital to her oeuvre over the last five years. One of the first sculp- tures Self made after graduating from Yale Univer- sity in 2015, Garter, was exhibited in a group exhi- bition alongside artists including Simone Leigh and Shinique Smith. Many of the characteristics we see in Self’s subsequent sculptural works are seen in Garter, most notably the heart-like shape and Self’s preoccupation with the idea of giving her pain- tings “legs.” Since creating Garter, Self has expan- ded her sculptural practice to include a variety of materials such as plaster, upholstery, and bronze.

Rainbow Bronze is Self’s first work in bronze, cast from her 2016–2019 sculp- ture Rainbow which had been made in wood, plaster gauze, and acrylic paint. Through the casting process, this singular figure can exist as a multiple in the world.

Self centers Black women as agents of creativity and creation: “The Black woman’s body is the first body. The Black woman’s body has given life to all hu- man bodies that exist today. It’s a point of reference for all of us...the Black fema- le body for me also is generous and full of abundance. If the Black woman’s body were a physical place, I would see it as Eden. That’s how I would like to imagine it.