A quilt showing a pink pig in the foreground with an orange setting sun in the background, next to a silhoutte of a person with their arms raised above their head, about to slaughter the pig

Diedrick Brackens: Woven Stories

Exhibition passed: 24 January 2025 – 2 June 2025

Included in general admission tickets
Suitable for all ages
Wheelchair accessible

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Diedrick Brackens: Woven Stories

We were pleased to present the first exhibition in the UK by Diedrick Brackens (b. 1989, Texas, US) in spring 2025.

Born in Texas in 1989, his hand-crafted works employ techniques from West African weaving, quilting from the American South and European tapestry-making to create works that explore American history, African American and queer identity, allegory and narrative.

Beginning his process through the hand-dying of cotton, a material he deliberately uses in acknowledgement of its brutal history, Brackens presents rich, nuanced visions of African American life and identity, while also alluding to the complicated histories of labour and migration. Often depicting moments of male tenderness, Brackens draws on African and African American literature, poetry and folklore as source.

Continuing our commitment to the display of craftwork of various media, Brackens’s rich imagery speaks powerfully to our history and the stories behind many of the works in our collection as well as echoing, visually, our holdings of 18th century silhouettes.

Diedrick Brackens, prodigal, 2023 © Diedrick Brackens. Courtesy of the artist, Jack Shainman Gallery and Various Small Fires
Brackens installation view by Jo Hounsome Photography
Diedrick Brackens installation view by Jo Hounsome Photography