Tschabalala Self: Bodega Run Book launch and installation of new works opens at Swiss Institute, NY, in January 2024

Pilar Corrias and Galerie Eva Presenhuber are delighted to announce the publication of Tschabalala Self: Bodega Run, a 235-page anthology inspired by the American artist’s Bodega Run (2017–) series of artworks, edited by Sasha Bonét, and published by Gregory R. Miller & Co.

On the occasion of the book’s publication, from 11 to 13 January 2024 the Swiss Institute, New York, will turn into a bodega imagined by Self, with a special presentation of the artist’s new paintings, sculptures and wall-mounted reliefs, accompanied by a neon sign installation in the window. 

Primarily owned by and serving communities of colour, the bodega is a central institution in the collective imagination and everyday realities of communities in New York City. Nearly inconspicuous through its ubiquity, its historical and cultural significance is widely overlooked. Ostensibly a neighbourhood deli, these family-run stores in reality become stand ins for much more, serving as spaces for local communities to meet, organise, and create their own local exchange economies. For Harlem-born Tschabalala Self, the bodega is a liminal site in which race, class, identity and consumerism collide.

Alongside an extensive selection of Self’s vibrant visuals, the new publication presents nine newly commissioned texts from leading writers and critics. Ranging from poetry, Afrofuturism, fiction and family history to political and social criticism, the essays delve into the complex consumer/merchant dynamics of New York’s metropolitan culture and the bodega’s potential as a radical site of resistance from racial, gendered, and diasporic perspectives. Contributors include G’Ra Asim, Joshua Bennett, Sasha Bonét, Carolyn CC Concepcion, Ayanna Dozier, Naomi Fry, Loryn Lopes, Roya Marsh, Camille Okhio, and Raven Rakia. An interview between Tschabalala Self and the publication’s editor, Sasha Bonét, also features. Tschabalala Self: Bodega Run will be distributed globally by ARTBOOK | D.A.P. in Spring 2024.