Souls Grown Deep like the Rivers
Black Artists from the American South
17 March - 18 June 2023
The Gabrielle Jungels-Winkler Galleries | Burlington Gardens
Tues–Sun: 10am–6pm
Fri: 10am–9pm
Tickets £15
(including donation)
Friends of the RA go free
Discover the Black artists from the Southeastern United States who created some of the most spectacular and ingenious works of the last century.
For generations, Black artists from the American South have forged a unique art tradition. Working in near isolation from established practices, they have created masterpieces that articulate America’s painful past – the inhuman practice of enslavement, the cruel segregationist policies of the Jim Crow era, and institutionalised racism.
Drawing its title from the work of Langston Hughes, Souls Grown Deep like the Rivers brings together sculpture, paintings, reliefs, drawings, and quilts, most of which will be seen in the UK and Europe for the first time. It will also feature the celebrated quiltmakers of Gee’s Bend, Alabama and the neighbouring communities of Rehoboth and Alberta.
Made from the materials available locally – like clay, driftwood, roots, soil, recycled and cast-off objects – the 64 works range from the mid 20th century to today. Many respond to issues that are global in nature: from economic inequality, oppression and social marginalisation, to sexuality, the influence of place and ancestral memory.
Artists include Thornton Dial, Lonnie Holley, Ronald Lockett, Joe Minter, Hawkins Bolden, Bessie Harvey, Charles Williams, Mary T. Smith, Purvis Young, Mose Tolliver, Nellie Mae Rowe, Mary Lee Bendolph, Marlene Bennett Jones, Martha Jane Pettway, Loretta Pettway, and Henry and Georgia Speller.
Exhibition organised by the Royal Academy of Arts, London in collaboration with Souls Grown Deep Foundation, Atlanta.
This exhibition contains images that some visitors might find upsetting. Please contact us for more information.
Download our large print guide.
#RASoulsGrownDeep
Tues–Sun: 10am–6pm
Fri: 10am–9pm
Tickets £15
(including donation)
Friends of the RA go free
Supporters
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Reviews
"This moving show considers the wealth of inventive work by African American artists"
The Guardian
"remarkable creative output"
The Telegraph
“...ties together the rich and varied threads of an alternative art tradition”
The Times
Exhibition trailer
Watch the trailer for this "beautiful and wildly original" exhibition and take a look inside the galleries.
Gallery
Stars of Everything, 2004
Keeping a Record of It (Harmful Music), 1986
Eagle, 1988
Triangles, 2021
Start here: Souls Grown Deep like the Rivers
Find out about the artistic traditions the artists in the exhibition forged and the challenges they confronted.
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