Diedrick Brackens: darling divined

About the Exhibit

Diedrick Brackens constructs intricately woven textiles that speak to the complexities of Black and queer identity in the United States. Interlacing diverse traditions, including West African weaving, European tapestries, and quilting from the American south, Brackens creates cosmographic abstractions and figurative narratives that lyrically merge lived experience, commemoration, and allegory. He uses both commercial dyes and unconventional colorants such as wine, tea, and bleach, and foregrounds the loaded symbolism of materials like cotton, with its links to the transatlantic slave trade.

Brackens was born in Mexia, Texas in 1989. He received a BFA from the University of North Texas in Denton (2011) and an MFA from the California College of the Arts in San Francisco (2014). He currently lives and works in Los Angeles.

Diedrick Brackens: darling divined is organized by the New Museum, New York. The exhibition is curated by Margot Norton, Curator, and Francesca Altamura, former Curatorial Assistant. The Blanton Museum of Art’s presentation is organized by Veronica Roberts, Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art.

Share your exhibition experience on social using the hashtag #darlingdivined

Can’t wait to see this exhibition?
Reserve your timed entry museum admission tickets now.

Image Gallery

Past Programs

Press

Austin Chronicle, Diedrick Brackens Weaves Multitudes in the Blanton’s “darling divined”

Forbes, Diedrick Brackens: The Prodigal Son, Returns To Texas

Glasstire, Diedrick Brackens: Through a Third Layer

Gulf Coast, Myth and Folktale: An Interview with Diedrick Brackens

Hyperallergic, Diedrick Brackens Explores the Warps and Wefts of Black and Queer Histories

It’s Nice That, Diedrick Brackens’ tapestries are loaded with symbolism harking back to the artist’s roots in the American South

New York Times T Mag, Beneath a Full Moon, a Healing Ritual

Sightlines, Diedrick Brackens: Binding the past to the present

Texas Monthly, Diedrick Brackens’ New Exhibition Mythologizes Blackness and Queerness

Texas Observer, Textile Artist Diedrick Brackens Recasts Symbols of Life and Death in Texas

UT News, Blanton Brings Artwork of Rising Star Diedrick Brackens to UT

Vogue Magazine, With “Darling Divined,” Textile Artist Diedrick Brackens Plumbs His Southern Roots

Credit

Diedrick Brackens: darling divined is organized by the New Museum, New York. The exhibition is curated by Margot Norton, Curator, and Francesca Altamura, former Curatorial Assistant. The Blanton Museum of Art’s presentation is organized by Veronica Roberts, Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art.

Funding for this exhibition at the Blanton is provided by Suzanne McFayden, Fredericka and David Middleton, Ellen and David Berman, and the Loraine O’Gorman Gonzales Creative Craft Fund.

Image Credit

Diedrick Brackens, bitter attendance, drown jubilee, 2018 (detail), woven cotton and acrylic yarn and silk organza, 72 x 72 in., Hammer Museum. Los Angeles; purchased with funds provided by Beth Rudin DeWoody