Jessica Ingram: We Are Carver

Acclaimed photographer Jessica Ingram invites visitors into George Washington Carver High School in Columbus, Georgia, a historic school that opened in 1954 and has long served the city’s African American community. Located just miles from Fort Benning, one of the nation’s largest military installations, the school became the focus of Ingram’s six-year documentary project from 2013 to 2019. During this time, she immersed herself in the daily life of the school, concentrating on its Army Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) program as students navigated identity, leadership, service, and the transition from adolescence to adulthood against a changing political landscape. Through intimate portraits, candid conversations, classroom ephemera, and personal reflections, We Are Carver captures the hopes, fears, resilience, and determination of a generation on the cusp of shaping its future. As the United States reflects on its 250th anniversary, the exhibition invites visitors to consider the shared responsibility of building a more compassionate, equitable, and just future. 

About the Artist:

Jessica Ingram was born and raised in Nashville, Tennessee, and earned a BFA from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and an MFA from the California College of the Arts. Her work explores social change and opposition within American culture—particularly in the South—through photography, storytelling, archival materials, and visual media. Ingram’s photographs have appeared in The New York Times, The New Yorker, Le Monde, and NPR. Her debut book, Road Through Midnight: A Civil Rights Memorial (UNC Press, 2020), was named one of The New York Times’ Best Art Books of the Year. Her second publication, We Are Carver (2023), was shortlisted for the 2024 Paris Photo–Aperture Foundation Best Book of the Year Award. Beyond her artistic practice, Ingram is an advocate for youth involved in the juvenile justice system in her hometown of Nashville. 

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