Tschabalala Self was born in 1990 and raised in Harlem, New York. She now lives and works in New Haven, Connecticut. The energetic beauty of everyday Black life is central to Self’s work. Her practice is firmly rooted in Harlem, New York, where she grew up. The ‘composite characters’ in her portraits are inspired by the people she encounters in the neighbourhood.

While those media remain the core of her practice, Self makes sculptures and installations as well. She has exhibited in New York, Los Angeles, London, Berlin, Naples, Brussels, and San Francisco, and her work belongs in the collections of the Astrup Fearnley Museet in Oslo, the HOW Art Museum in Shanghai, the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, the LUMA Foundation, the Pérez Art Museum Miami, and the Yuz Museum in Shanghai. Self’s work has achieved six-figure prices at auction.

Works made in collaboration with Tschabalala Self, as part of an ongoing collaboration with Avant Arte, were exhibited at:

• De la Warr Pavillion, Bexhill-on-sea, 2023
• Coal Drops Yard, London, 2022
• Pilar Corrias Gallery, London, 2022