MELBOURNE.- One of the most-in-demand figurative painters working today, Tschabalala Self’s distinctive style combines fabric, collage and painting with innovative printing techniques and a steadfast focus on beauty as a form of artistic resistance.

With new and recent large-scale paintings, works on paper and an immersive 3-channel video installation, Skin Tight introduces Australian audiences to a practice celebrated for its beauty and sophistication. Born in 1990 in Harlem, New York, Tschabalala Selfworks out of her studio in the picturesque Hudson Valley. Her work is inspired by her ancestral and familial ties to New Orleans and is infused with a vibrancy drawn from the Harlem Renaissance, as well as jazz, dance, and performance. Self channels these energies into profound reflections on Black embodiment and experience.  

For her exhibition at ACCA, Self has designed a series of contemplative, psychologically charged immersive spaces, filled with striking 2D and 3D works. The exuberant characters that populate Skin Tight push audiences to consider how we construct our identities – and how we both perceive and are perceived by the world around us. Self’s figures are not representative of any singular individual, rather, they are collages of various people and references from throughout her life.

Through cut-outs, sightlines and wall drawings, Self has created an immersive exhibition experience – one where audiences are encouraged to feel part of the installation. Inside her fantastic worlds, we become active participants in the work, reflecting on themes of exhibitionism, voyeurism, myth making, and identity. By harnessing a multitude of references and media, Self explores the psychological, emotional, spiritual and sexual dimensions of being alive, and continually challenges our perceptions of identity. Skin Tight speaks to both the limitations and freedom of embodiment.

ACCA Artistic Director and CEO Myles Russell-Cook said the exhibition showcases Self’s unique approach to portraiture and figuration in a fresh cultural context. “Tschabalala’s work is an act of self-revelation—one that challenges narrow definitions imposed on bodies, expanding them to encompass the fullness of the human spirit. Her figures occupy a space between representation and transcendence, constantly evolving and never static. Through this, her work offers a transformative vision of our shared humanity, pushing beyond the constraints of persecution to reveal the depths of human potential.”

Tschabalala Self (b. 1990, Harlem, USA) lives and works in Hudson Valley, New York. 

Tschabalala Self has shown at major institutions, globally, including Longlati Foundation, Shanghai; Espoo Museum of Modern Art, Espoo; High Line, New York; Brooklyn Museum, New York; FLAG Foundation, New York; Barbican, London; CC Strombeek, Grimbergen, Belgium; Desert X, Coachella Valley; Kunstmuseum St Gallen; Le Consortium, Dijon; Performa 2021 Biennial, New York; Haus der Kunst, Munich; Kunsthalle Düsseldorf; Baltimore Museum of Art; ICA Boston; Studio Museum Artists in Residence, MoMA PS1, New York; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; Frye Art Museum, Seattle, among many others.