Souls Grown Deep like the Rivers: Black Artists From the American South

Interesting exhibition at the Royal Academy of work by Black artists born between 1887 and 1965 who lived and worked in the American South.

The works were mainly lent by the Souls Grown Deep Foundation and confronted the history of enslaved African Americans and the realities of inequality and racial conflict. Most used scrap materials and found objects and the show also looked at the parallels with quilt making.

I don’t know most of these artists so it was all an interesting discovery. As most of the artists were untrained, I guess it could be described as outsider art. I didn’t warm to it aesthetically but was interested in what it had to say.

I did like this eagle made of found pieces of wood by Ralph Griffen and this painting of Atlanta by Jimmy Lee Sudduth. I was fascinated by the idea of the Yard Show where artists set out their work in large scale installations around their homes. There was a good video of Joe Minter’s “American Village in America“ which has been growing since 1989.

I found the leaflet with the labels for the works really useful as it gave a lot more insight than just looking at the work.

Closed 18 June 2023


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