Beverly Buchanan Weathering at Spike Island

About

Spike Island presents the first European survey exhibition of the work of Beverly Buchanan (b.1940; d.2015), bringing together five 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, landscape and everyday materials.

Throughout her career, Buchanan returned to structures as repositories of lived experience and historical memory. This exhibition foregrounds the intimate forms through which Buchanan nurtured these relationships, alongside major works spanning the 1970s to the 2010s. Artists’ books, manifestos, small sculptures and her witty, affectionate Christmas cards reveal a practice that moved fluidly between the monumental and the personal.

Buchanan’s writing—by turns incisive, humorous and deeply reflective—runs throughout the exhibition, offering insight into her artistic thinking as well as her daily life, ambitions and struggles.
 

Tickets

Free, donations welcome.

Times

Monday: Gallery closed
Tuesday: Gallery closed
Wednesday: 12–5pm
Thursday: 12–5pm
Friday: 12–5pm
Saturday: 12–5pm
Sunday: 12–5pm

Accessibility

• Wheelchair accessible
• Large print guides available
• Sensory packs are available at reception