About
I’m Abdul Basir. I am a lens-based artist. My work utilizes analog and digital photography. I document events, people, and my own psyche. Born in Philly, raised in Jersey; I came here chasing the truth. I came here not to just chase the people demanding the truth but to eventually become one. Every path I could’ve walked led to this city. The city of endless possibilities, the city of dreams, This city that never sleeps. I’ve been based in Manhattan for the past few years and I plan to stay for however many more. The huge melting pot of ideas, beliefs, cultures; they all converge here, we all have a voice here.
We’re honored to have you with us. To start, would you mind telling us about your latest work?
I've been working on a body of work that deals with the intersectionality of being Black and being American. It is an autobiography of sorts, portraying my experience in a way that evokes the same emotion I felt during it. Titled Son of Man, another name for Jesus Christ, It pairs photographs with text to encapsulate the experience of being targeted, crucified, and estranged. Son of Man is a plea, a plea to the audience to not see me for the color of my skin, not as an uncaged beast, but as a Man; a human being.We don’t share the same experience, we’re not in the same line of thought; for this reason I let the viewer take my eyes, I leave my shoes at the door, and await their entrance. The body of work is ambiguous, the keys to the greater conversation.
What pushed you to start this particular project? Was there a moment or feeling that sparked it?
A lot of black spaces have been subject to victimization at the sound of speaking against the hands of their oppressors. We’ve been told to move on, that time has changed, time has passed. If that's the case, why has my experience been the same? And my father’s. His Mother’s. We are told to let go of our pain and celebrate theirs. To sit back while the truth gets construed, to watch them completely delude not just our culture but our image, a step out of line and then you're in prison. But as much as I hate to say a lot of my people have given in, gotten comfortable, and accepted the ‘norm’. They forgot what our brothers and sisters were fighting for, this serves a bit as a reminder.
When did photography first become part of your life?
I've always been around photography, but didn't get to hold a camera until I was much older. Originally I wanted to become a doctor, but was inspired and pushed by the people around me to become an artist, despite not knowing much about art. Art was an outlet for me, and through that time of exploration photography became my voice. I graduated high school a year early and during that extra year I went to school in Jersey City. The entirety of my time there was spent studying, learning every single thing I could find about art, photography, and film. I studied the medium inside and out. I broke it down, dissected it, questioned it.Photography is the polo of the art mediums, I say that for more reasons than one. Everything I learned there helped shape the foundation of my art making. Everything I’m learning here is shaping the artist I have yet to become.
Where does analog or alternative photography fit into your life these days? Is it something you mainly use in your work, or more of a personal passion?
It's my life, I sacrifice my hands, bleed on my negatives, sweat on my prints all for the perfect image. I feel I do whatever's necessary in whatever process is required. I'm an artist. Art is created through exploration and experimentation. I find the different processes photography offers can be to the photographer what candy in a candy shop is to a kid. Everything feels limitless and anything's possible.
What does your creative process usually look like? Or does it tend to shift depending on the project?
My creative process is contradictory. It can be as simple as getting from point A to B and there can be steps that lead you all the way past Z. My process adapts and molds to fit the vision I intend to create. It isn't formulaic. There's no metric of measurement, just a list of constraints with a handful of ways to get around them. I shoot plenty of work that may never see the light of day and I shoot plenty of work that begs for the sun's rays; I handle both the same, with the same care, thought, and energy. My process is inconsistent but not my results; the intention of the photograph always bleeds through its layers.
Can you talk a bit about the gear you use? Where did it come from, and what does your camera—or cameras—mean to you personally?
I have a wide variety from 120 to polaroid, all used situationally. I don't like relying on one or any camera because they can break especially right when you need it. At that mark you need to move on and grab a new tool from the box, not grieve the one that you lost. The photographs will always bear more significance to me than any camera ever could. The only thing that matters is it's ability to capture the photo.
Do you still shoot digital, or have you moved mostly to film? How do you decide which format to use for a given project or situation?
Yeah I do. Everyone has different reasons but personally its more risk assessment for me. What I'm shooting and Where I'm going to shoot are things that heavily impact the camera I choose and in term the format as well. I shoot protest a lot and typically the ones who are violent with you are the same ones and who are shielded by a badge, the same badge that swore an oath to "protect" you. So, in those cases I tend to lean more to film, the image is harder to destroy and far less expensive if it is.
Are there any artists, not necessarily in the realm of photography, who have left a significant impact on your life and work? This could be someone from the past or someone currently influential.
Yes; I love reading, it can be incredibly personal and extremely intimate. The pages are lined with the thoughts that cloud their minds late at night. One of my favorite examples and truly influential on the work I'm creating is Frantz Fanon. He talks about his experience with being black in America around the time of the Black Panther Party(BPP). He reflects with a holistic way of seeing but still takes into account his and his community's experiences as well. He describes observing the societal interactions of the people that surround him and breaks it down to its core with fact and logic not disrespect and hate. Before I discovered Fanon I was feeling and experiencing all the things I would later come to read. From discrimination to confusion, I was drowning under it all. When I picked up his book 'Black Skin, White Masks' I truly felt as if he saw out of my eyes, heard the words I've spoke, that the path we walk is the same. For the first time I not only felt heard, I felt seen.
Thank you so much for participating. To see more of his work, follow his Instagram page @_pr0ph3t.