In "Self-portrait Study with Roses at Night (1709)," Paul Mpagi Sepuya folds the apparatus of image-making into the image itself, positioning the camera as both instrument and subject within the frame. Made in 2015 as part of his "Figures" series, the work belongs to a sustained investigation in which bodies appear in partial, fragmented form against the studio backdrop, collapsing the boundary between photographer and photographed. The roses and the nocturnal quality of the title introduce an atmosphere of intimacy and artifice, qualities central to Sepuya's practice of staging queer sociality as something simultaneously exposed and withheld. Sepuya, born in 1982 in San Bernardino and now working across Los Angeles and New York, has built a body of work that treats the studio as a site of desire, collaboration, and self-examination. His photographs do not simply document but actively construct the conditions of looking, inviting viewers to reckon with how intimacy is produced through the mechanics of representation. This small-format work, measuring 27.9 by 39.4 centimeters and signed by the artist, carries the compressed intensity that characterizes his studio-based practice, where scale and proximity become meaningful elements of the encounter. Originally offered through the Art in General Benefit Auction, the piece is an accessible entry point into the work of an artist whose reputation has grown considerably since this photograph was made. Prospective buyers in New York should note that applicable sales tax will be added to the final purchase price.