RSVP for the free event!
The poet and educator Laura Da’ (Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma), across three collections of poetry—tributaries (2015), Instruments of the True Measure (2018), and Severalty (2025), each published by the University of Arizona Press—has enacted a deeply personal accounting of Shawnee history, community, and selfhood.
Grounded in the historical removal of the Shawnee from Ohio, first to Kansas and ultimately to Oklahoma, Da’s poetry offers a timely celebration of Shawnee survivance and life. Specifically, through the character of Lazarus Shale, Da’ has created a complex personality who not only embodies the history of Shawnee removal but also the vitality that is central to contemporary Indigenous creativity.
The exhibition Laura Da’: Why Lazarus centers the poem “Why Lazarus” (from Severalty), which unfurls through the corridor space of the Urban Arts Space, poignantly located in the old Lazarus Department Store building in Downtown Columbus, Ohio. Walking alongside Da’s poem in the gallery, located on the banks of the Scioto River and the Scioto Trail (now US 23-High Street), will offer visitors a uniquely visceral experience of Shawnee spatial and temporal knowledge.
Visiting Urban Arts Space
50 W. Town St., Ste. 130
Columbus, OH 43215
Located in the historic Lazarus Building in downtown Columbus.
Admission to our exhibitions and programs is free!
View this map for parking garage options, with street parking on Rich, Front, and Wall Street, or go to our Accessibility page for bike or bus directions.
Urban Arts Space may photograph or video the event for promotional purposes. By attending, participants grant permission for their likeness to be used in promotional materials. If you prefer not to be photographed, please inform event staff.