About the Exhibit - Cotton Mouth

Tschabalala Self’s exhibit, Cotton Mouth, is on view at Eva Presenhuber Gallery from November 7th, 2020 through January 23rd, 2021. The title of the exhibit is a reference to “the unique phenomenon of Black American life through references to contemporary culture and Black America’s past.” 

“Cotton has a supercharged history for Black Americans specifically, [It speaks to] Black Americans’ labor and sacrifice—and tangentially embodies the Black American experience of American chattel slavery.” - Tschabalala Self (source) 

This is Tschabalala Self’s debut solo exhibition at Eva Presenhuber Gallery in New York. The exhibit features a number of mediums including her signature paintings created from fabrics, paints, and other materials as well as drawings, sculpture, and an audio piece (which you can hear in the video below).

Self describes the figures in her works as ‘avatars,’ that speak to an ideal image for the artist. 

“These exuberant, richly textured “avatars”, as Self calls them, both embrace and confound collective fantasies and assumptions surrounding the black female body.” - The Art Newspaper (source) 

“The differences in scale or distortion of certain parts of the body are meant to mimic how the body is experienced, rather than how it actually exists...How the body parts are exaggerated in the work speaks to how a body is consumed, how a body is experienced and how a body is inhabited.”  - Tschabalala Self  for The Art Newspaper (source) 

“I’m curious to know how little information is needed for one’s body to register as being gendered and racialised—is it as simple as a silhouette of a heel, a thick thigh, a protruding butt? Does this alone register in the average questioner’s mind as being both female and black?”  - Tschabalala Self for The Art Newspaper (source) 

Tschabalala Self was born and raised in Harlem, so I’m sure having a solo exhibit in New York City is particularly special to her. 

“Growing up in a large family—I’m one of five children—there was a culture of re-use, recycling and repurposing that I am familiar with and which has now found a place in my studio.” - Tschabalala Self (source) 

In the basement of the gallery is a series of drawings as well as an audio piece. 

“I want people to feel that they are seen and that they are acknowledged and that they are assured. I want to make something that feels real and truthful—the only thing that can liberate people is the truth.” - Tschabalala Self (source) 

Video of the Exhibit

To see a walkthrough of the exhibit, skip ahead to 5:51 in the video below.

About the Artist - Tschabalala Self 

Tschabalala Self is known for her “exaggerated depictions of female bodies using a combination of sewn, printed, and painted materials, traversing different artistic and craft traditions” (source) 

“The exaggerated biological characteristics of her figures reflect Self’s own experiences and cultural attitudes toward race and gender.” (source) 

Tschabalala Self received her BA in Studio Arts from Bard College and her MFA in Painting/Printmaking from Yale School of Art. 
She currently lives and works in New York and New Haven. You can explore more on her website and Instagram.