Diedrick Brackens
Diedrick Brackens (b. 1989, Mexia, TX) is a weaver best known for his woven tapestries that explore themes of African American and queer identity, American history, as well as his own lived experience. Brackens makes work that is both figurative and abstract, narrative and allegorical, utilizing techniques from West African weaving, quilting from the American South, and European tapestry-making. He uses both commercial and natural dyes, including wine and tea, and begins his process by hand-dyeing cotton – a fabric he uses in acknowledgement of its brutal history and complicated ties to labor, migration, and African American identity. Influenced by African and African American literature, poetry, and folklore, Brackens imbues his weavings with a fantastical spirit, while poignantly bridging past and present. Brackens lives and works in Los Angeles, CA.
He received his BFA from University of North Texas, Denton, TX in 2011 and his MFA from California College of the Arts, San Francisco, CA in 2015. Brackens has exhibited in solo and group exhibitions throughout the country including the Hammer Museum (Los Angeles, CA), the New Museum (New York, NY), Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts (Cambridge, MA), and NOMA (New Orleans, LA), and his work can be found in various museum collections, including the Brooklyn Museum (New York, NY), Crystal Bridges Museum for American Art (Bentonville, AK), the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, NY).
