Feelin’ The Love

Snapping selfies at the Self Love Museum is meant to build confidence and promote togetherness and fun.

Want to channel some self-love via a few selfies? Introducing the Self Love Museum, a “do-it-yourself photography studio and interactive museum where you’re the work of art.”

“There’s this negative side to social media,” says Dr. Tiese Roxbury, the museum’s founder and owner. “When you upload things, you subject yourself to criticism and opinions — so we want to create a space where people can come and make content while inspiring and promoting the idea of self-love and confidence.”

Adding to its confidence concept, the museum also has a mission of promoting family time and making memories to keep, both tangible and intangible, a goal near and dear to Roxbury’s heart. In 2020 her family suffered a loss to gun violence on Christmas, which was part of the driving force behind creating a way to promote happiness, unity and positivity amid the uptick of violence and hostility in Wilmington.

“As we were looking through pictures, we realized we didn’t have many,” Roxbury recalls. “That was another driving force, to give families a way to have fun together, create memories and have those pictures because people aren’t promised forever.”

Thus, the Self Love Museum opened its doors to the public in July 2021. It is on Eastwood Road and powered with an important mission to promote good.

Selfie takers and museumgoers can anticipate more than 20 photo ops with an uplifting atmosphere, a slew of rooms with an array of atmospheres and fun props. There’s a forest space with green, earthy ambiances; a CEO office where customers can sit behind the desk and be a boss; a plush, velvety VIP room; and even a money room with a hot pink neon sign reading Know Your Worth. The museum also has a Kobe and Gianna Bryant tribute, complete with the Lakers’ signature purple and gold colors.

Plus, there are a plethora of props to aid in memory making — ring lights, Polaroid cameras, sunglasses, leis, emoji bouncy balls, a piano — and an option to bring in some inspiration from home. And feel free to get creative; as long as you can fit it through the door, it’s fair game for the photos — so bring all those wardrobe changes and accessories from home.

“We’ve even had a motorcycle come in,” Roxbury says. “We said if you can fit it through the doors, have at it.”

Perfect for a girls’ night, birthday party, private events and even a trip with your grandmother, this creative space is a picturesque perch for it all. To boot, the museum is involved with educational workshops in partnership with the Boys & Girls Clubs of America’s afterschool program to talk about antibullying, cyberbulling and building self-love and confidence.

“One of the things I hear often is that it brightens people’s days as soon as they walk in,” Roxbury says. “Just because of the colors, the design and the layout. So come in, release some stress and have some fun.”

Let’s face it—we love a museum where the people in it are the works of art.

Want to go:
Self Love Museum
420 Eastwood Road #112, Wilmington
(406) 478-8082
selflovemuseum@gmail.com
selflovemuseum.com

By Appointment Only
Wednesday through Saturday 12 to 7 pm
Sunday 12 to 6 pm

Cost: $20; $10 for kids ages 4 to 12; free for kids 3 and younger

Photography by Megan Deitz