Diedrick Brackens: blood compass

Diedrick Brackens explores the intersections of identity and sociopolitical issues by creating handwoven tapestries that reexamine allegory and narrative through material, autobiography, and the broader themes of African American and queer identity, American history and memory. Brackens’ recent solo shows include his first European show at Kestner Gesellschaft, Hannover, Germany, as well as shows at the Mint Museum, Charlotte, NC, Craft Contemporary, Los Angeles, CA, Blanton Museum of Art, Austin, TX, Oakville Galleries, Ontario, Canada, and the New Museum, New York, NY. He is the recipient of the US Artist Fellowship, 2021, Louis Tiffany Comfort Grant, 2019, Marciano Artadia Award, 2019, and the Studio Museum in Harlem’s Joyce Alexander Wein Artist Prize, 2018.

Glenn Adamson is a curator, writer, and historian based in New York and London. He has previously been Director of the Museum of Arts and Design and Head of Research at the V&A. Dr. Adamson’s publications include Thinking Through Craft (2007); The Craft Reader (2010); Postmodernism: Style and Subversion (2011, with Jane Pavitt); The Invention of Craft (2013); Art in the Making (2016, with Julia Bryan-Wilson); Fewer Better Things: The Hidden Wisdom of Objects (2018); Objects: USA 2020; and Craft: An American History (2021). Dr. Adamson is editor of Material Intelligence, a quarterly online journal published by the Chipstone Foundation, and curator-at-large for LongHouse Reserve. His next book, A Century of Tomorrows, will be out with Bloomsbury in December 2024.