Virtual talk "the reed is plea"
with Artist Diedrick Brackens

March 17, 2pm

Reservations required by 5pm, March 16 here.
Zoom link will be distributed the day prior to the event
 

In this digital talk, Diedrick Brackens will discuss his recent solo exhibition at Oakville Galleries in Oakville, Ontario, entitled 'shape of a fever believer' which explores the contemporary manifestation of the HIV pandemic through a metaphysical plane, wherein figures dance, levitate, and pray. In addition, he will discuss "Ark of the Bulrushes", an exhibition at the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art opening in 2021 exploring the mythic Underground Railroad quilts, celestial navigation, and basketry.

Diedrick Brackens is an LA-based textile artist, originally from Mexia, Texas. Brackens draws from a variety of textile traditions, including elements of European pictorial tapestry, West African strip-weaving and quilts of the American South. Brackens renders his painstakingly woven textiles primarily in cotton, a material inextricably charged with America’s continued history of racialized violence and labor. His oeuvre synthesizes folklore, history and contemporary American life into fantastical scenes where Black bodies engage in moments of intimacy, prayer, and defiant repose. Brackens received his Masters of Fine Arts from California College of the Arts in San Francisco, CA. His work is included in the permanent collections of the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA; Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City, NY; New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA; Studio Museum Harlem, NY among others. He has been the recipient of numerous prizes and awards, including the Joyce Alexander Wein Prize in 2018, the Marciano Artadia Award in 2019, Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Award in 2019 and the American Craft Council Emerging Voices Award in 2019.