Steeped is a 2025 thesis exhibition by Arianna Barley, installed at Step Gallery in Phoenix, Arizona.

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.

This body of work is part of an ongoing practice which strives to remain accountable to ancestors as well as our collective futures through acts of storytelling and speculation.