Souls Grown Deep like the Rivers: Black Artists from the American South at Royal Academy

Key facts

• Exhibition titled 'Souls Grown Deep like the Rivers: Black Artists from the American South' at Royal Academy of Arts, London.
• Features Black artists born between 1887 and 1965 who stayed in the southern US during Jim Crow.
• Artists used recycled materials including house paint, scrap metal, rusty pliers, used clothing, clay, toys, shoes, and obsolete appliances.
• Thornton Dial's 'Testing Chair (Remembering Bessie Harvey)' (1995) uses branches, roots, metal, corrugated tin, wire, spray paint, and Splash Zone compound.
• Ronald Lockett's 'Sara Lockett's Roses' (1997) consists of individually cut roses on earth-toned wood squares.
• Ralph Griffin's 'Eagle' (1988) made of colored pointed wood.
• Eldren M. Bailey's 'Dancers' (1960) shows two white sinuously intertwined figures.
• Charlie Lucas's 'Three-Way-Bicycle' (c. 1985) uses three wheels, car parts, and electrical wires.
• Joe Minter's 'And He Hung His Head and Died' (1999) references crucifixion and capital punishment of slaves.
• Quilts section honors Mary Lee Bendolph, Rachel Carey George, Martha Jane Pettway, Loretta Pettway, Flora Moore, Marlene Bennett Jones, and Essie Bendolph Pettway.
• Quilts align with Black Folk Art and 1980s Black Feminism.
• Exhibition runs until June 18, 2023 at Royal Academy of Arts, 6 Burlington Gardens, London.