Beverly Buchanan

Name: Beverly Buchanan
Start: 2026-09-26
End: 2027-01-31
Location: Spike Island
Rating: 4

26 September 2026 to 31 January 2027

FreeDrawing & Works on Paper Painting Sculpture Contemporary Art

Critic score

4/5 from 1 rating

Four decades of sculpture, painting, drawing and archive by Beverly Buchanan, whose shack sculptures and earthworks trace memory, place and the legacies of slavery in the American South.

From Spike Island

Spike Island presents the first European survey exhibition of the work of Beverly Buchanan (b.1940; d.2015), bringing together four decades of sculpture, painting, drawing, earthworks, artists’ books and rarely-seen archival material. Rooted in the landscapes and histories of the American Southeast, Buchanan developed a singular practice shaped by memory, materiality and place, exploring the enduring legacies of slavery through the histories embedded in architecture,...

Critic Review

The Guardian

Eddy Frankel

Ramshackle mini barns and shanties bursting with brutal history

"But the good stuff here – the shacks and Frustulas – is exceptional. It’s not just morose memorialising of brutal history: it’s a joyful celebration of ingenuity and survival in a world of inequality. As rickety as they look, these shacks tell a story that’s built to endure."

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