Breaking from #28DaysOfComics, today I would like to present to you, my younger sister, an artist from Harlem, NY, Tschabalala Self @tschabalalaself Motivation for her art and influences for her images stem from the stark differences between black and white bodies portrayed in the media. She builds a singular style by fusing painting and printmaking to explore ideas about the black female body. Her figures, or “avatars” are formed from paint, recycled materials, and scraps of fabric. Painted canvas and collage combine to create amplified likenesses with exaggerated depictions of female bodies, traversing different artistic and craft traditions, and reflecting her own experiences and cultural attitudes toward race and gender. After graduating from Bard College with a B.A. in 2012, she completed her M.F.A. in painting and printmaking at the Yale School of Art. In April 2014 she participated in “13 Artist”, Yale University’s first art all black art show. She has seen success in the industry with both showings in group expeditions and solo shows across the world that including, Miami, New York, LA, London, Tel Aviv and more. In 2016 she was recognized as a Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters & Sculptors Grant recipient, awarded to artist who are currently under-recognized for their creative achievements. She also earned a spot on Forbes’s 2017 30 Under 30: Art & Style list, and has been featured in magazines such as Fader, W Magazine, The Last Magazine and more. Her newest artistic endeavor, the installation “Bodega Run” further expands on her illustration of black life. Though most of her earlier work focused exclusively on figures, her recent pieces are informed by the space that surrounds them. The collection celebrates bodegas as an unmistakable urban appendage, a part of almost every New Yorker’s routine in some capacity. She explained, “I feel like this is an opportunity for me to really tell a story about my community and, in that sense, it’s kind of an origins tale for myself.” #TschabalalaSelf #Mysister #Yale #Bard #Harlem #BodegaRun #13Artist #Fader #WMagazine #TheLastMagazine #Forbes30Under30 #BlackArtist #BlackPainters #BlackFemaleArtist