Sounding Board, Tschabalala Self’s first foray into performance art at the 2021 Performa Biennial, begins with light and color. The work debuted in October 2021 in the inviting amphitheater at Harlem’s Jackie Robinson Park. There, the work’s stage was collaged with whimsical furniture arrangements that played with foreshortening, oversized drooping flowers, and painted set pieces that recalled the artist’s mixed-media figurative paintings.
This move to performance has allowed Self to expand her continued exploration of how bodies are perceived, extending beyond two-dimensional forms to the three- and four-dimensional realms of movement and behavior, illustrating the nuances of how we read each other.
Read more about Sounding Board at this Artsy article.