Diedrick Brackens: Weaving
You know you’re an overthinker when it comes to writing a simple post about an artist who makes beautiful weavings, and you hesitate before you start writing.
Is this a guilt post?
Will it look insincere?
Do I even like the work?
Am I trying too hard?
I don’t overthink my other posts. I publish art I love, art that speaks to me and makes me feel.
Why this one? It’s art by a black man. A black man working in textiles.
Okay, and they’re really lovely. So I’m turning off my overthinking brain, tuning into my feeling brain, and sharing with you the work of Diedrick Brackens, weaver.
In his words, from an interview with William J. Simmons of Cultured:
Cotton is the primary material because it is a very easy material to manipulate, it takes color beautifully and its historical significance in the U.S. relative to enslavement, violence and subjugation has had lasting effects on black bodies,’ he says. ‘I think of the process of handweaving cotton as a small way to pay tribute to those who came before me and worked with the material under very different circumstances.
