Overview
Self is best known for her colourful, collage-like paintings of predominantly black figures in large format. Their bodies are strongly pronounced in terms of form, shape and silhouette. More recently, Self has also turned to sculpture, performance and fashion collaborations. The exhibition at CC Strombeek showcases these latest developments. Unlike earlier work in which metropolitan environments constituted the backdrop for the characters, this exhibition focuses on homeliness, the family home and performance. Self is particularly interested in the dual nature of the private environment as an emotionally and socially charged locus.
Self utilises specific painterly gestures to challenge contemporary notions of race, gender and sexuality. The artist derives her themes mainly from her lived experience. Through her artistic practice, she aims to contribute to a new and urgent rhetoric on identities and people of colour. Early on in her studies, Self, who was appalled by the many ways in which women were sexualised, began to address the objectification of black women specifically through references to pop culture and media. Over the years, she began to use her own identity as a black woman as a means of inspiration by referencing both contemporary society and Black-American heritage. “It is the space I occupy in the world, that is the body I came from. It is who I am and who my mother was. The more sincere a story you can articulate, the more people have access to it,” Self explains.
She is best known for her colourful, collage-like paintings of predominantly black figures in large format. Their bodies are strongly pronounced in terms of form, shape and silhouette. More recently, Self has also turned to sculpture, performance and fashion collaborations. The exhibition at CC Strombeek showcases these latest developments. Central to the exhibition is the work Sounding Board, an experimental video installation showcasing the documentation of Self's first live performance that premiered in 2021 at the Performa Biennial in New York. The title of the exhibition, Feed Me, Kiss Me, Need Me, is taken from the accompanying script.
Unlike earlier work in which metropolitan environments constituted the backdrop for the characters, this exhibition focuses on homeliness, the family home and performance. Self is particularly interested in the dual nature of the private environment as an emotionally and socially charged locus. "The house has two realities," she states. "A desired reality — a place of comfort, inwardness and true self-expression, and an alternative reality— a place full of expectations, where people are required to assume roles constructed by the outside world."
