PHILADELPHIA, PA — InLiquid Gallery will present The Source of Self Regard, a new exhibition opening October 3, bringing together six Black artists with Philadelphia roots in a collective exploration of identity, resilience, and belonging. Curated by cultural worker and entrepreneur Tayyib Smith, the show runs through November 29 at the gallery’s South Kensington space.
The exhibition features works by Erlin Geffrard, Zakee Kuduro, Gianni Lee, Al-baseer (ABH) Holly, Mel D. Cole, and Ron St. Clair. Smith frames the installation as a meditation on the radical act of self-recognition, describing self-regard as an imperative in what he calls “this regressive era of backlash and weaponized nostalgia.”
Each artist approaches the theme through a distinct lens. Mel D. Cole’s photojournalism captures both the beauty and turbulence of contemporary life, while Gianni Lee and Geffrard explore temporal shifts and imagined futures. Holly remixes familiar iconography to critique commodification while evoking memory, and Kuduro presents a body of work spanning painting, sculpture, and mixed media centered on faith, mortality, and identity. St. Clair, whose photography documents more than five decades of Black cultural life, contributes images including his coverage of the 1979 White House event that formally launched Black History Month.
The exhibition challenges conventional frameworks of visibility in the art world, rejecting transactional expectations placed on Black artists by institutional audiences. Instead, it foregrounds joy, opacity, and creative autonomy.
The title references Toni Morrison’s essay collection The Source of Self-Regard, which reflects on the foundations of dignity and imagination born out of survival and struggle. The show positions itself as neither nostalgic nor elegiac, but as a reckoning—an assertion of presence and agency.
The Source of Self Regard will be on view at InLiquid Gallery, 1400 N. American Street, from October 3 through November 29, 2025. Gallery hours are Wednesday through Saturday, noon to 6 p.m. A free opening reception will be held Thursday, October 9, from 6 to 9 p.m.
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