Diedrick Brackens - heaven is a muddy riverbed

Diedrick Brackens - heaven is a muddy riverbed - January 30 - May 8, 2022, Craft Contemporary, Los Angeles.

This fully illustrated catalog accompanied Craft Contemporary's exhibition and documents all of Diedrick Brackens’ catfish-themed weavings and poems up to the date of the exhibition. An intimate survey that examines the use of the catfish motif in Los Angeles-based artist Brackens’ work. The catfish has been an enduring, multi-dimensional reference in his work – a symbol of physical and spiritual nourishment, a messenger linking the present to ancestral memories, and a guide in self-examination. The exhibition navigated the evolution of this important emblem at the heart of Brackens’ prolific creative practice.

With essays by author Derrick Austin, Messenger in the Water: Catfish as Motif in the Poetry of Diedrick Brackens, and curator, writer, and cultural historian TK Smith, The Body Weaves Through Water. It also includes an introduction by Holly Jerger, exhibitions curator at Craft Contemporary, and a foreword by Suzanne Isken, Executive Director.

Poems, artwork, Diedrick Brackens Studio, a biography, and an image list complete the publication.

The book's cover is printed with matte black foil on heavy stock black paper.

Craft Contemporary, 2022, softcover, 9 x 7 in, 80 pages.