Interdisciplinary artist Tschabalala Self’s artworks fuse painting, printmaking, assemblage, and sculpture to challenge notions about the Black female body. Her evocative works reproduced for the High Line – Moynihan Connector Billboard, Patience (2022) and Loosie in the Park (2019), portray Black women at leisure in contrasting settings.

Patience, featured on the north side of the billboard, is part of an ongoing body of work that explores the psychological significance of the home, domesticity, and gendered labor. The work depicts a Black female figure sitting at a dining table positioned within a yellow interior. Self’s flattening of space erases the differentiation in form between the woman and her furniture—the two meld together into a sole body, alluding to the phrase “become part of the furniture,” which describes someone who has been somewhere so long, it is hard to imagine the place without them.

Loosie in the Park, on the south side of the billboard, hails from Self’s Bodega Run series. Born and raised in Central Harlem, Self highlights the bodega, Spanish for “shop,” as an emblem of New York, particularly in Black and Latino neighborhoods. The work depicts a Black female figure sitting on a green New York City park bench while smoking a “loosie,” a colloquial term for a single cigarette, occasionally sold (illicitly) at bodegas. Another New York emblem, the pigeon, sits in waiting by her feet. Loosie in the Park depicts the Black female figure in a moment of leisure and independence, while paying homage to bodegas as pillars of the community, often both owned by and serving people of color.

Cecilia Alemani, the Donald R. Mullen, Jr. Director & Chief Curator of High Line Art, sat down with Self to dig into her inspiration and artistic process.

Cecilia Alemani: Tell us about your creative process. How did Loosie in the Park [and/or Patience] come together?
Tschabalala Self: Patience (2022) is part of a series entitled Homebody, which explores domestic space. The paintings in this series function as windows into the quotidian home. The title of the series is borrowed from the colloquialism that refers to an introverted type of person, one who prefers to stay within the confines of their house. This body of works deals a lot with literal and figurative interiority.  The works underscore the inherent tensions at play within the domestic space. A private space that is not exempt from public and political pressures. Patience (2022) depicts a woman sitting alone at a table, looking squarely at the viewer. She is in a moment of deep contemplation; yet it is ambiguous as to whether or not she is at rest.

Loosie in the Park (2019) is an adjacent work from my Bodega Run series. In this painting, a woman is resting on a park bench with a cigarette, bought at the bodega, in hand. The New York City bodega is an institution with unique practices and customs. The culture of the bodega is a reflection of the communities surrounding these stores and the individuals who patronize them. Ostensibly, the bodega is a deli; however, in reality, these stores have many functions. In communities that have been systematically depleted and deprived, the bodega is a one-stop shop for all basic necessities—including loose cigarettes.

I wanted to pair these two works together for my High Line commission because both bring to mind memories of life in NYC, my memories of my childhood home in Harlem, and my local corner store.

How does it feel to see these artworks in such a large format next to the High Line?
It’s really rewarding to see the Black female body depicted at such a monumental scale. In my practice, I aspire to hold space and create a cultural vacuum in which the gendered and radicalized Black body can exist freely for its own pleasure and self-realization. These two paintings depict two women at rest. Rest and leisure have become increasing important to me in my exploration of Black figuration. Patience (2022) shows a woman resting in a private space and Loosie in the Park (2019) shows a woman at leisure in public. Together, they’re suspended above the bustling city for viewers to bare witness to their restoration.

Your work often depicts Black women in everyday situations and at leisure, all with a strong sense of presence, power, and agency. How do you construct and conceive of the figures featured throughout your practice? 
My figures are built from a singular style by the syncretic use of both painting and printmaking to explore ideas surrounding the Black body. I construct depictions of predominantly women using a combination of sewn, printed, and painted materials, traversing different artistic and craft traditions. My work explores the emotional, physical, and psychological impact of the Black female body as an icon, and is primarily devoted to examining the intersectionality of race, gender, and sexuality. I believe collective fantasies surround the Black body, and have created a cultural niche in which exists our contemporary understanding of Black femininity. My practice is dedicated to naming and deconstructing this phenomenon.

Loosie in the Park depicts a woman seated in a park, whereas Patience depicts someone in a domestic setting. How do you think about leisure and agency as they relate to both the public and private spaces we inhabit in our daily lives?
Taking a seat is a universal act of leisure and calm. The women in these works both partake in this simple gesture with ease. Yet, sitting and simply existing in the public realm has been a political and legal issue in America and the global West for Black people and Black women especially, who experience both racial and gender-based violence. As an artist, I want to use my work and my voice to advocate for the safety and well-being of Black women who so often experience extreme violence and disrespect.

How has growing up in New York City inspired your artworks? How did your family structure and history shape your thoughts on gender, race, and personal identity?
I was born and raised in Harlem, New York, a predominantly Black neighborhood, to a pro-Black family. I feel very connected to my identity as a Black woman and that is something that inevitably comes through in my work. My paintings depict individuals claiming space in their streets, homes, stores, intimate spaces, and within their own bodies—they determine how they are seen and understood. They are self-manifested and self-actualized.
 
Your artwork often includes sewn pieces of fabric, some of which have a personal connection or significance. How do you collect and select fabrics for your artworks? 
I inherited a lot of the fabric that I work with still today from my mother, Glenda Self. She also collected fabric. There are many steps that go into the making of my paintings. Some of the paintings begin from a drawing done directly onto a piece of canvas or fabric—some develop simply from sewing together bits and pieces of scrap. Each work can begin differently, but they all come together with the combination of sewn materials, stretched canvas, and the addition of paint.

You’ve mentioned Faith Ringgold, known for her work with textiles, as an artist who has inspired you. Could you talk a bit more about how her, or others’, work has influenced you?
My patchwork tableaux honors a lineage of Black American women such as Faith Ringgold, and others like Dindga McCannon and Joyce J. Scoot, who similarly worked within the lexicon of craft to create brilliant post-modernist artworks. Faith Ringgold and I were both born in Harlem and grew up in households where sewing was a highly valued skill. Ringgold’s mother was a fashion designer, and my mother trained individuals for the construction trades. Ringgold has always inspired me to freely pull from my own memories, interests, and intuition in regard to making my works. She has also given me the confidence to work at my own pace, given the length of her beautiful career as an artist, wife, mother, and activist.

You’ve recently won the commission for London’s Fourth Plinth, with your artwork Lady in Blue to be exhibited in Trafalgar Square in 2026. How did you approach creating a sculpture at that scale, and for such a broad public audience?
I wanted to create a work that would simultaneously be personally meaningful and politically poignant. Lady in Blue accomplished this goal as she is not a figure from the historical or political past, but rather a symbol of our shared present and future ambitions. She expresses resilience and grace through the complications of our ever-evolving modern world for she is a timeless figure—a Black female figure. Inspired by a desire to bring a contemporary woman to Trafalgar Square, Lady in Blue adds a new perspective to the public space. Unlike Henry Havelock, Charles James Napier, or George Washington, this quotidian woman is not a real person but an icon; she represents many individuals rather than the adulation of one. This symbolism allows all who interact with the sculpture to imbue her with their own personal relationship and take meaning from her placement. This sculpture would be the first sculpture of mine to depict a walking figure. Movement and walking are associated with agency in my work. The fact that my figures are often ‘on the move’ speaks to their ability to assert their own will and exist within their own reality, rather than existing solely for the edification of the viewer. I believe all individuals who encounter her will feel inspired to move with agency.

Learn more about Tschabalala Self’s artworks on the High Line →