The Archive as Liberation

The Archive as Liberation
Andre Bradley, calista lyon, Raymond Thompson Jr., Harrison D. Walker, and Savannah Wood
Co-curated with Aaron Turner

February 6-April 17, 2026
Opening reception: February 6, 6-9pm
Free and open to the public

Aurora PhotoCenter, Main Gallery
1125 Brookside Avenue, Suite C9, Indianapolis

The Archive as Liberation brings together a dynamic group of artists to engage in dialogue around archival photographic methods. This dialogue also includes the participants’ role in documenting, interrogating, and understanding experiences, both individual and collective. Published as a book and exhibited at Silver Eye and Light Work in 2025, the 2026 Aurora installation of The Archive as Liberation, co-curated with Aaron Turner, features photography and video-based work by Andre Bradley, calista lyon, Raymond Thompson Jr., Harrison Walker, and Savannah Wood.

For deeper engagement with the artists and their work, Aurora will host a panel talk in conjunction with the exhibition’s opening, as well as a series of artist talks throughout 2026. The book, published by Light Work, will also be available for purchase for the duration of the exhibition.

Andre Bradley, based in Philadelphia, PA, uses curatorial and photobook practices to explore the subject of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and the Black community. Bradley holds degrees from Image Text Ithaca, MICA, and Rhode Island School of Design’s MFA program. 

calista lyon, based in Fayetteville, AR, uses an expanded photographic practice in which she creates installations, performances, and community-engaged works that explore knowledge and memory as a form of critical resistance in our time of colonial capitalism. Lyon is an assistant professor of photography and expanded media at the University of Arkansas. 

Raymond Thompson Jr., based in Austin, TX, is an interdisciplinary artist, educator, and visual journalist whose work explores how race, memory, representation, and place combine to shape the Black environmental imagination of the North American landscape. Thompson holds an MFA in photography from West Virginia University, an MA in journalism from the University of Texas at Austin, and a degree in American studies from the University of Mary Washington. He is an assistant professor at the University of Texas at Austin. 

Harrison D. Walker, based in Westford, MA, is an artist who uses techniques from printmaking, drawing, and photography to create forms that reference celestial phenomena, the otherworldly, and the unknown. Walker holds an MFA in photography from Temple University. He served as visiting faculty at such institutions as Maine Media Workshops, Wesleyan College, and the University of Alabama, and currently is the Manager of Studio Operations for the Harvard Art Museums. 

Savannah Wood, with roots in Baltimore and Los Angeles, primarily works within photography, text, and installation to explore how spirituality, domesticity, and our relationships to place shape our identities. Wood holds a degree from the University of Southern California, and currently serves as the executive director of Afro Charities. 

Aaron Turner is a photographer, educator, and independent curator, born and raised in the Arkansas Delta. Turner holds an MA from Ohio University and an MFA from Mason Gross School of the Arts. In his studio practice, he uses the 4×5 view camera to create still-life studies on identity, history, abstraction, and archives. He most recently joined the University of Michigan’s Penny W. Stamps School of Art & Design as an assistant professor.

Annual operating support for Aurora PhotoCenter provided by the City of Indianapolis through the Indy Arts Council. Additional annual support provided by the Efroymson Family Fund, Joy of Giving Something Foundation, Inc., Allen Whitehill Clowes Charitable Foundation, Indiana Arts Commission, Aurora Members, and donors who believe in Aurora’s mission.