Last month, I took a field trip to the Indianapolis City-County Archives, something I’ve been quietly looking forward to for months, though I didn’t know just how much it would move me until I was there.
I was given a private tour by City-County Archivist Jordan Ryan, who I first met this past summer while trying to learn more about the ongoing archaeological excavations happening in Indianapolis. My personal research, with names highlighted, articles printed, and places circled, was the beginning of a larger thread I’m following: connecting my studio practice to the land beneath it, the history around it, and the research I’ve been doing abroad. All of it is slowly shaping itself into my upcoming solo exhibition, Tender Ground: Excavation as an Act of Care, opening March 2026.
The archives themselves felt alive, with rooms full of presence, silence, and the weight of what’s been kept. Jordan walked me vault by vault, past shelves of records, maps, scrolls, and boxes that feel like time capsules stacked in plain sight. I wasn’t just looking at history; I felt like I was standing inside it.
One of the most unexpected moments was getting to sit with historian Deedee Davis, a name I had highlighted earlier this year on pages I printed for my 3-ring binder, where I collect research, ideas, and inspirations for the Tender Ground exhibition. There was something surreal about sitting in the very room I had marked in my binder, talking with the person whose name I had quietly underlined, imagining that someday our paths might cross - and then they did.
