Steeped

April 3 to 12 | Step Gallery

Opening reception | April 4 | 6 to 9 p.m.

Steeped is a solo thesis exhibition by Arianna Barley centering the site of Redstone Arsenal as a case study through which to examine and rethink legacies of the past. Steeped models acts of knowing and ways of learning both within and outside of institutional modes of knowledge. Working with historically imbued materials, including sorghum, cotton and Alabama soil, and engaging archival content alongside on-site research, the work contends past and present, loss and discovery. Redstone Arsenal, like all sites, is a liminal site, still in conversation with and beholden to its history.

Steeping is a process of storytelling and an invitation for speculation. To steep is to use what has been passed down or left behind as ingredients in an infusion for the present and the future. To be steeped is to be submerged in a story and left drenched in its syrupy residue. Once you have been steeped, all else sticks to you.
 

Image: Sorghum Braids (2025) still, Arianna Barley.