Basil Kincaid’s ‘Inward Cartography: Self of Selves’ Exhibition – Essence

One in every of life’s most tough duties is to look within the mirror—not simply to see a mirrored image, however to confront the alternatives that form who we’re. That sort of deep self-examination requires persistence, braveness, and, as a rule, discomfort. For Basil Kincaid, the exploration of self isn’t a passing part or philosophical pastime—it’s a necessity. His newest exhibition, Inward Cartography: Self of Selves, now on view at Library Road Collective in Detroit, is a putting meditation on the emotional and religious terrain of id.

Recognized for richly layered textile works, Kincaid pushes past conventional types to create items that function each portrait and course of. Quilting, embroidery, drawing, digital rendering—these parts come collectively to create what he calls “fiber vignettes,” the place coloration and composition come collectively to assist the viewer, and artist, with private evaluation.

Crafted between studios in St. Louis and Ghana, the work is formed by Kincaid’s fixed motion throughout bodily and psychological landscapes. He speaks overtly about how location impacts not simply his artwork, however how he sees himself, and the way he’s seen by others. “I’m how my life adjustments and the notion of me adjustments based mostly on the place I’m,” he defined. “There’s variations in how I’m perceived in [Missouri], if I’m simply strolling on the road versus how I’m perceived within the museum giving a speech—folks take a look at me and expertise me a technique, after which the quick expertise adjustments their notion.”

That shifting view fuels most of the themes behind Inward Cartography. Each bit begins with a drawing, goes by means of a cycle of digital manipulation in Photoshop, then is embroidered and stretched like a canvas. Kincaid sees these media not as disparate, however as a part of a continuum. “The way in which that the work is made brings in questions on place and the way websites have an effect on the way in which you assume and function and create,” the artist defined.

Kincaid’s hybrid methodology can be a deliberate rejection of the hierarchies which have lengthy devalued sure supplies or routines. “Drawing is commonly seen as a decrease kind,” he famous. “However to me, it’s so foundational.” That sentiment extends to fiber artwork, which he insists deserves to be handled with the identical seriousness and depth as any so-called fantastic artwork. In Basil’s arms, the Jacquard loom—a binary system of weaving from the 1800s—turns into a strong metaphor for early computing, for construction, for storytelling.

“Arguments may very well be made that developments in fiber artwork know-how led to a sort of social change in the way in which that we predict that enables for the probabilities of computing and all these different issues that we expertise and depend upon,” Kincaid stated. “I really feel like we exist on this form of Venn diagram of realities the place everyone has a digital cyber avatar or multiples throughout totally different social apps; you create these simulacra of your self to current. As you create a picture of your self that you simply assume is good and you set it into this thought area, it additionally impacts the way in which that you simply consider your self, and that may be constructive or damaging based mostly on the way you react to the societal conditioning or the social norms of every of these numerous areas.”

Whereas Inward Cartography is deeply rooted in innovation, its core lies in what Kincaid calls “emotional defragmentation.” Very like a pc sorting its recordsdata to run extra effectively, Kincaid sifts by means of private recollections—each joyful and tough—and reassembles them with intention. “The toughest is dealing with your errors; stuff you really feel looking back you possibly can have executed higher,” Basil shared. However as an alternative of compartmentalizing these recollections, he treats them as integral. Black shapes punctuate most of the works, symbolizing not absence, however weight. “Once you attempt to neglect a nasty reminiscence, you find yourself forgetting a variety of the recollections round it which will have additionally been good,” he added.

On this landmark effort, the viewer is not only observing Kincaid’s journey—they’re invited into their very own. “I needed this physique of labor to be much less about storytelling and extra about that strategy of wandering and questioning; experiencing the wilderness of your self,” he stated. This openness makes the exhibition really feel much less like an “artwork present” and extra like a guided inside pilgrimage.

Literary influences—one thing newer in Basil’s inventive follow—additionally run by means of this physique of labor. Legacy Russell’s Glitch Feminism gave language to a number of the complexities Kincaid had been grappling with round multiplicity and existence. Octavia Butler, too, left a mark—not simply by means of her storytelling, however by means of her fierce creative self-discipline. “She had a transparent dedication that didn’t make room for excuses,” Kincaid mirrored. “That pushed me to dig even deeper and provides one other layer of myself.”

And that’s precisely what Self of Selves affords: an unguarded layering of thought, course of, and selfhood. The exhibition doesn’t search to pin down id, however to carry area for its contradictions. In a time after we usually really feel compelled to package deal and carry out ourselves—digitally, socially, culturally—Kincaid resists that pull. As a substitute, the artist stitches collectively a sequence of labor that’s as intellectually wealthy as it’s trustworthy.

“Artwork is meant to be the place of freedom,” Kincaid stated. And on this exhibition, that freedom pulses by means of each thread, each shadow, and each map drawn from life’s encounters.

Inward Cartography: Self of Selves is on view by means of Might 21, 2025 at Library Road Collective.