Year: 2021
Medium: secondhand books, little free library, wood, hardware, seedling
Dimensions: 24.5″ W x 96.5″ H x 12″ D

Self-Help presents a six-foot-tall lending library composed of secondhand copies of four once-popular memoirs and advice books: Sophia Amoruso’s Girlboss, Ellen DeGeneres’s Seriously… I’m Kidding, Lena Dunham’s Not That Kind of Girl, and Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In. All four titles were widely embraced during the 2010s but later faced degrees of cultural critique in the 2020s. Visitors are invited to interact with the sculpture and read the books within the gallery.

The shelf’s height—deliberately taller than the average woman’s reach—forces many visitors to stretch or stand on tiptoe to access the books, while remaining more easily reachable by men. This subtle imbalance draws attention to the contradictions embedded in the very narratives the books promote. By physically staging access and limitation, Self-Help reflects the aspirational tone of mainstream feminist branding and becomes both an archive and a quiet critique of the shifting shelf life of influence.

Press
Art in America, Harley Wong

Exhibition History
Untitled Art Fair, Miami, FL
11.29 – 12.04, 2021

Ki Smith Gallery, New York, NY
08.12 – 08.29, 2021