The work of Diedrick Brackens is instantly recognizable – woven textiles suspending figures midair. He weaves strictly with cotton, a material inextricably charged with the continued history of racialized violence and labor in the U.S. His oeuvre synthesizes folklore, history, and contemporary American life into fantastical scenes like “grease in the air,” a rapturous depiction of flight and defiance that hangs central in the exhibition “Aaron Douglas: Sermons” in the Evans Center gallery. Image credit: Diedrick Brackens, grease in the air, 2022, cotton, acrylic, oak