WASHINGTON — The Smithsonian American Art Museum is preparing a major exhibition dedicated to artist Bisa Butler, bringing together nearly 40 of her large-scale quilts for what the museum describes as her largest survey to date.

“Bisa Butler: Tender Monuments” will open March 19, 2027, and remain on view through August 22, 2027. The exhibition will span three decades of Butler’s work, from an early self-portrait created while she studied painting at Howard University to a self-portrait completed in 2026.

Butler is known for transforming archival photographs of Black Americans and people of the African diaspora into brightly colored textile portraits using fabrics, patterns and richly layered materials. Her subjects include historical and cultural figures such as Harriet Tubman, Octavia Butler and Salt-N-Pepa.

The exhibition will also place Butler's work alongside pieces by influential artists including Romare Bearden, Faith Ringgold and Betye Saar, creating a broader dialogue about African American artistic traditions and contemporary textile art.

The Smithsonian exhibition positions quilts not simply as decorative objects, but as powerful contemporary monuments celebrating Black history, resilience, identity and community.

A fabric touch station, videos and audio features will give visitors additional ways to explore Butler's creative process and the stories represented in her work.