User:Camyhill106/sandbox

Bodega Run
Through her project of a series called Bodega Run, Self explores how bodies are affected by their environment, which also impacts the way the bodies move through the world itself. Bodegas are small grocery stores, or also known as liquor stores, that are commonly found on the east coast of America, specifically New York. Self’s inspiration for this project stems from her hometown of Harlem, where bodegas were and are very common. Self, along with many others, believes that bodegas are a place where communities come together that share mutual issues, such as the issue of the oppression of people of color in America. Her Bodega project stems from this belief and her “characters populating the bodegas of Harlem, these groceries of the corner, true microcosms emblems of the black and Latin diasporas in New York”. Part of this series is her works she calls Hammer Projects include Rainbow, Big Red, My Guy, Ice Cream, and ''Loosie in the Park. '' Self also includes neon light signs, consisting of words such as “Abierto/ Open”, “Coffee/ Teas”, “EBT/ ATM”, and “Lotto”, which represent the LED lights that typically reside in these facilities.

Style
Self starts her artwork with a line drawing of the character she wants to illustrate, then takes different objects to create her collage of items to go over that drawing. She uses shapes to build her characters while emphasizing objects or parts of the body that might be noticed first or carry a psychological or physical weight to them. Several of Self’s work is sexually explicit. Self’s Rainbow piece, which consists of wood, acrylic paint, and other elements, portrays a black woman bending down, exposing her genitalia. Another of Self’s work Swim involves a man and woman joined together in a sexual act while still displaying certain parts of the body that hold more emphasis, in particular, the buttocks. The black female bodies in her artwork are often described as nonbinary or “genderless” because they do not conform to the westernized form of beauty that is usually seen in the art world.