Risk and resilience on the east side.
That’s the theme of “Portraits of Resilience,” a photography research project out of IU Indianapolis.
The project uses the photovoice methodology — a research method that uses photography and narrative storytelling to capture the lived experiences of participants. Four eastside artists participated in the project and made more than 200 photographs in Indianapolis’ eastside neighborhoods.
The project ran in March and April. Courtney Page-Tan, an assistant professor of public affairs and community resilience at IU Indianapolis, led it. The goal was to promote awareness of the strengths of the east side and the challenges that have gone unaddressed.
“Hopefully it can result in some kind of change in communities that, in some cases for a very long time, have been dealing with things like neglect or business vacancies that aren’t really bringing life into their community,” Page-Tan said.
Page-Tan looked at census data to identify and recruit artists from underrepresented neighborhoods.
“I was looking for both levels of poverty as well as communities of color,” Page-Tan said. “And so those communities just happen to fall on the east side.”
The four artists who participated in the project are Corey Ewing, Cierra Johnson, Andre Parnell and LaNiah Ray. Some of the neighborhoods featured in the project include the Far Eastside, Arlington Woods, Martindale Brightwood and Kennedy-King.
Page-Tan said she did not define risk or resilience for the artists. Examples of risk include abandoned buildings and mobility challenges. The photographs that document resilience include neighborhood engagement and green spaces. After the photographs had been collected, the artists participated in a listening session with researchers to discuss their findings.
Photographs from the project will be featured at an art exhibition 6 p.m. May 18 at 10 East Arts, 3137 E. 10th St. The event is free and members of the community are invited. More information about the project and exhibition can be found online.
Corey Ewing and a long-ago motorcycle club
Corey Ewing grew up in Crosstown, a neighborhood near Brightwood. That’s where he spent most of his time taking photos for the project. He said many properties are now gone or are owned by out-of-state companies.
“We will pass properties that are a little bit run down and have been abandoned for a while and kind of discarded,” Ewing said. “And then turn our heads and keep going.”
One example is an abandoned building where a motorcycle club once hung out. He said every year, the club would host a Halloween party for neighborhood kids. But the building has been boarded up for years.
But he said there are many examples of resilience to counter the risk.
“Resilience is anything that keeps us on track to being happy and just being ourselves,” Ewing said. “I don’t think there’s any one right way to do it. There’s so many.”
Cierra Johnson and the Kennedy-King memorial
Cierra Johnson spent time documenting risk and resilience through photography in Brightwood and the Kennedy-King neighborhood. She said there are definitely examples of risk on the east side, but there are many sources of resilience.
She said the project gave her an opportunity to share neighborhood pride.
“There’s so many good things to be said about the people of the east side,” Johnson said. “So this is the opportunity to really show that off.”
For Johnson, a big takeaway from the project is how much history is on the east side. An example she shared is the Landmark for Peace Memorial in Kennedy-King. She said she drives past it everyday, but never took the time to learn more about its significance.
“If we pay more attention to it, there’s less chance that it’ll be lost,” Johnson said.
Andre Parnell, exploring the east side and urban blight
Andre Parnell said the project encouraged the artists to explore their own communities.
“We got to play detective,” Parnell said. “There are so many pathways that we don’t travel ourselves, sometimes because we are afraid.”
When it comes to risk and resilience, Parnell photographed the Avondale Meadows neighborhood. In the 1960s, the area was a thriving suburban neighborhood with a shopping center. The neighborhood faced urban blight in the ‘80s and ‘90s and residents felt neglected.
Parnell said recent investments in the neighborhood have brought improvements, which he documented in the project, including new apartment buildings.
But despite the improvements, some buildings are still vacant and there could be better access to resources like grocery stores or health centers.
“They put a new face on it,” Parnell said, “but did they address systemic problems within that community?”
LaNiah Ray and eastside parks
LaNiah Ray focused her project on her own neighborhood, the Far Eastside.
She documented the many abandoned strip malls and buildings, which she said are huge risks to the community.
She also spent time at several eastside parks and community gardens, areas that she said help people connect with nature.
“I feel like green spaces in Indianapolis are one of the most beautiful cases of resilience that we have,” Ray said.
Ray helped organize the Portraits of Resilience exhibition. She hopes community members attend the exhibitions and find that they can relate to the photographs.
“Art is a very accessible way to communicate different issues, especially social and political issues,” Ray said. “We all live in these communities, and we all have voices that you know should be heard.”
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Mirror Indy reporter Darian Benson covers east Indianapolis. Contact her at 317-397-7262 or darian.benson@mirrorindy.org. Follow her on X @HelloImDarian or on Bluesky @darianbenson.bsky.social.
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