May 12–August 29, 2025
Kathleen O. Ellis Gallery
Reception: Friday, July 25th, 5-7pm

The Archive as Liberation is a publication and exhibition organized by Aaron Turner (Light Work artist–in-residence, 2018, and Light Work exhibiting artist, 2021). Turner has gathered a unique group of artists and writers to engage in dialogue around archival photographic methods. Contributors include Andre Bradley, calista lyon, Raymond Thompson Jr., Harrison D. Walker, and Savannah Wood, alongside writing by Chisato Hughes, Alec Kaus, Andrew Martinez, Aaron Turner, Amelia Wallin, and Wendel A. White, with a foreword by the book’s editor, Donasia Tillery. The publication was designed by Elana Schlenker. 

To mark the launch of this publication, Light Work has mounted an exhibition highlighting many of the contributing artists. This exhibition includes work by Andre Bradley, Chisato Hughes, Alec Kaus, calista lyon, Raymond Thompson Jr., Harrison D. Walker, Wendel A. White, and Savannah Wood. 

“The artists included in this publication and exhibition are engaged in resilience, ancestral understanding, counter-memory, translation, activism, tension, narrative, and critique. Through their artistic gestures, they illustrate freedom in the Archive.” —Aaron Turner 

The exhibition also includes a unique reading room curated by Turner with artists’ books from his personal collection and pieces from Light Work’s collection.  The reading room will be in Light Work’s Lab for the duration of the exhibition.