Discover Photograms
Free and open to the public

Photograms are a kind of camera-less photography made in the darkroom in which you place objects directly on a piece of photographic paper and then expose the composition to the enlarger light. The result is a black-and-white image in which solid objects appear white and translucent objects and materials appear in an almost “x-ray” effect caused by light shining through. The contours of the objects are rendered in sharp shapes and lines, sometimes ultra-realistically.

Photograms are a great introduction to photography and the darkroom - if you don’t like your first attempt, just try another one! In this open session, we will have sheets of 8 x 10 paper, chemistry, and a variety of objects on site to start your compositions; feel free to bring your own objects and materials, keeping in mind that darkroom chemistry can stain. Working space is limited in the darkroom, so a max of three people can work on one picture at a time.

This photograph open session is free and open to the public. This activity is best suited for artists age 7+; minors must be accompanied by an adult.

Photogram by Lisa Pelo

DeBoest Lecture Hall
Newfields
Free, tickets required

Join Colombian-born, American photographer Alexandra McNichols-Torroledo for a discussion about her exhibition, ESX/COCA. Torroledo has dedicated the last decade to focusing on Indigenous communities in North and South America that protect sacred plants, water, and the rainforest. The exhibition, titled ESX/COCA showcases powerful images taken at the Wasak Kwewesx School in the Nasa Indigenous reservation of Toribio, Cauca, Colombia. 

McNichols-Torroledo aims to deconstruct colonial and postcolonial visual narratives surrounding the coca plant through her work with the Indigenous people of the Andes.  

Following the lecture, there will be a question-and-answer session for guests to ask about her artistic process and work.  

The lecture is free, but registration and tickets are required. Click here to register and get free tickets for the lecture.

Join us for First Friday in November, when we will open the exhibition ESX/COCA featuring work by Alexandra McNichols-Torroledo in Aurora’s Efroymson Gallery. Over the last decade, Colombian-born photographer Alexandra McNichols-Torroledo has focused her work on the indigenous communities of North and South America who protect sacred plants, water, and the rainforest. The exhibition ESX/COCA presents images that McNichols-Torroledo made at the Wasak Kwewesx School in the Nasa indigenous reservation of Toribio, Cauca, Colombia.

At the school, Nasa children are educated in the medicinal ancient rites of the coca plant and their relation to weaving and spinning practices done with the cabuya plant. Cabuya fiber is considered by the Nasa people “the hair of mother earth,” and it is as sacred to the Nasa as the coca plant. Classes at the Wasak Kwewesx School are led by a traditional doctor called ‘the Wala’ who educates children to become traditional doctors, midwives, and cultural leaders to ensure continuity of the Nasa culture.

The beautiful prints in ESX/COCA were made using the platinum-palladium process, a contact printing process originating from the 1870s. This exhibition will be on view in Aurora’s Efroymson Gallery until December 15.

In Aurora’s Main Gallery until December 15
: Jessica Hays started photographing wildfires after a fire burned the foothills of her hometown in Montana in 2020. Since then, Hays has traveled the American Southwest to create the series The Sun Sets Midafternoon, which captures the state of solastalgia, an emotional and existential distress caused by negative environmental change. The exhibition combines immersive, floor-to-ceiling mural prints of fire clouds, large-scale framed photographs of fires, and the artist’s written word to deliver an urgent reminder of our world’s fragility. 

Please note that this Throwdown has been rescheduled. It was previously scheduled for September 26.

Thursday Night Photobook Throwdown
Free and open to the public

For the September Thursday Night Photobook Throwdown, bring your newest photobook, or the one you’ve recently fallen in love with again, for an evening of sharing, conversation, and appreciation for this format for photography that is an art form in and onto itself!

Don’t have a book in mind to share? Not to worry — you can also comb through Aurora’s photobook library of over 300 titles for a wildcard if you’re feeling lucky that night.

We will start at the tables in the Aurora PhotoCenter Gallery, Suite C9, and then migrate down to a close-by watering hole when the mood strikes us or 7pm, whichever comes first!

Please join us for an online artist talk featuring 2023 Aurora + Herron Resident Priya Kambli. In August 2023, Kambli spent the two weeks of her residency in the Herron School of Art + Design darkrooms creating large-scale prints for two series, An Inventory of the Objects of Mourning and Objects of Mourning: Still-Life. In this talk, Kambli will discuss these series, her ongoing project Devhara, and the role of residencies in her practice. At the end of the presentation, the audience will have the chance to ask Kambli questions and her work and residency.

To join from computer or mobile: 
https://iu.zoom.us/j/88308552450

Meeting ID: 883 0855 2450

To make the prints in An Inventory of the Objects of Mourning and Objects of Mourning: Still-Life, the artist combined the use of two photographic processes, photogram and lumen, which abstracts the objects into their contour lines and shapes. Both An Inventory of the Objects of Mourning and Objects of Mourning: Still-Life are from the artists’s larger, ongoing project, Devhara, about which Kambli writes:

Devhara (which loosely translates to “house of idols” in my native language of Marathi) is a multi-disciplinary body of work that weaves together three generations of women: my mother, my daughter, and myself. And it grapples with how my work can or should reflect my migrant identity. I investigate these topics through my mother’s objects of worship, which are imbued with political realities and tangible memories and which to me have become objects of mourning. I explore the resonance of these items from my mother’s home altar as significant forms while inserting our bodies (my daughter’s and mine) to create abstract images/meditations/visual prayers. This body of work continues my effort to think about themes of identity, migration, and loss as catalysts for dialogue and the forging of cross-cultural understanding as well as its reflection on the broader cultural context.

Kambli’s work inadvertently examines the question asked by her son Kavi at age three; did she belong to two different worlds, since she spoke two different languages? The essence of his question continues to be a driving force in her art making. In her work, Kambli strives to understand the formation and erasure of identity that is an inevitable part of the migrant experience.

Kambli’s artwork has been well received, having been exhibited, published, collected and reviewed in the national and international photographic community. She was the winner of the inaugural Creator Labs Photo Fund by Aperture and Google, and The Magenta Foundation’s Un-Stuck grant. The success of Kambli’s work underlines the fact that she is engaged in an important dialogue, and reinforces her intent to make work driven by a growing awareness of the importance of many voices from diverse perspectives and the political relevance of our private struggles.

Priya Kambli (priyakambli.com) received her BFA at the University of Louisiana in Lafayette and an MFA from the University of Houston. She is currently Professor of Art at Truman State University in Kirksville, Missouri. She also serves on the Board of Society for Photographic Education.

In the galleries for October First Friday, Aurora’s Fall exhibitions explore humanity’s relationship to the land that sustains us physically, culturally, and spiritually. 



Jessica Hays started photographing wildfires after a fire burned the foothills of her hometown in Montana in 2020. Since then, Hays has traveled the American Southwest to create the series The Sun Sets Midafternoon, which captures the state of solastalgia, an emotional and existential distress caused by negative environmental change. The exhibition combines immersive, floor-to-ceiling mural prints of fire clouds, large-scale framed photographs of fires, and the artist’s written word to deliver an urgent reminder of our world’s fragility. In Aurora’s Main Gallery until December 15.



The exhibition Timbered Virtue, featuring work by artist and educator Lamar Richcreek (1947-2018), explores changes in American rural life and family farms, as seen through adult eyes and childhood memories. In Aurora’s Efroymson Gallery, the exhibition celebrates Richcreek’s thought-provoking images as well as his life modeling values of lifelong learning, the power of the arts, and the importance of integrity and respect for all. The exhibition Timbered Virtue will be accompanied by an essay written by celebrated photographic artist Linda Adele Goodine, who was Richcreek’s mentor, colleague at Herron School of Art and Design, and close friend. In Aurora’s Efroymson Gallery until October 15.

Please email us at info@auroraphoto.org to arrange a group tour or visit to these two exceptional exhibitions.

If you’re in the Indianapolis area, make sure not to miss the chance to see Rebecca Norris Webb’s exhibition, Night Calls, at University of Indianapolis through October 25, with an artist reception October 3, 4-6pm. The following night, Friday, October 4, 6pm, frequent collaborators Rebecca Norris Webb and Alex Webb will give the lecture, Two Looks, about their work solo and together. A Q&A and book signing will follow the lecture.

Both the artist reception and lecture are free and open to the public, with an rsvp requested for the lecture. For more information and to rsvp, visit news.uindy.edu.

Poet and photographer Rebecca Norris Webb and Magnum photographer Alex Webb have published more than 20 books together and apart. In the Two Looks Lecture, the creative couple will show a selection of work from both their individual and collaborative projects, including their first joint Radius book, Violet Isle: A Duet of Photographs from Cuba, Alex’s recent Aperture book, Dislocations, and Rebecca’s University of Indianapolis exhibition and accompanying Radius book, Night Calls, in which she retraced the route of some of her 100-plus-year-old doctor father’s house calls through the same rural county where they both were born—Rush County, Indiana.

Join us for an evening of talking film, shooting film, getting to know other film photographers, plus enjoying some great brews at Metazoa!

Roberts Distributors and some of the most incredible film manufacturers will be in Indy for this first-of-its-kind film meet-up that will bring together the Midwest's amazing flim photography community and the top film experts in the industry. Talk with representatives from Ilford Photo, Harmon Photo, Kodak, Pentax, Cinestill, Film Photography Project, Flic Flim and more!

And, if on top of all that, Pentax will be giving away a new Pentax 17 Film Camera and there will be lots of swag. Grab free swag and enter more great giveaways during this event, too.

See you there!

Discover Photograms
Free and open to the public

Photograms are a kind of camera-less photography made in the darkroom in which you place objects directly on a piece of photographic paper and then expose the composition to the enlarger light. The result is a black-and-white image in which solid objects appear white and translucent objects and materials appear in an almost “x-ray” effect caused by light shining through. The contours of the objects are rendered in sharp shapes and lines, sometimes ultra-realistically.

Photograms are a great introduction to photography and the darkroom - if you don’t like your first attempt, just try another one! In this open session, we will have sheets of 8 x 10 paper, chemistry, and a variety of objects on site to start your compositions; feel free to bring your own objects and materials, keeping in mind that darkroom chemistry can stain. Working space is limited in the darkroom, so a max of three people can work on one picture at a time.

This photograph open session is free and open to the public. This activity is best suited for artists age 7+; minors must be accompanied by an adult.

Aurora with SPARK Monument Circle
Free and open to the public

SPARK, the pop-up park on Indy’s Monument Circle, is the downtown place to meet, enjoy the beautiful weather and people, and create. Aurora will be at the SPARK art kiosk close to the info booth in the middle of the park. This will be the last of Aurora’s Cyanotype on the Circle events of the season!

Cyanotype is a camera-less photography made out in the sun, rather than in a darkroom. You place objects — such as plants — on top of a piece of photo-treated paper, and then use the sun to expose the paper. The result is an image that is an exact outline of the object. It’s a fun and magical way to engage photography! Although it may be new to modern people, cyanotype has been around since photography was invented in the 1800s.

Come explore the creative possibilities of this fascinating process. We will have some objects on hand to experiment with, but feel free to bring your own. Flat items usually work best, and cyanotype can be messy, so precious things like family heirlooms should probably stay at home. All other necessary materials will be provided free at the workshop.

This activity is best suited for artists 7+ years old; minors must be accompanied by an adult.

In conjunction with the Aurora PhotoCenter exhibition, The Sun Sets Midafternoon, Jessica Hays will give a presentation on Saturday, September 7, at 1pm, to talk about handmade books and their place in her practice. Participants will get the opportunity to view Hays’s book, Horizon Line, a monumentally-scaled handmade artist book that opens to 12 x 60 inches and is rarely exhibited.

Hays will also give a demo on the Japanese stab binding technique as part of the event, and participants will get hands-on by binding a small booklet using the process.

This presentation is free and open to the public, no registration required.

Opening September 6, Aurora’s Fall exhibitions explore humanity’s relationship to the land that sustains us physically, culturally, and spiritually.

Jessica Hays started photographing wildfires after a fire burned the foothills of her hometown in Montana in 2020. Since then, Hays has traveled the American Southwest to create the series The Sun Sets Midafternoon, which captures the state of solastalgia, an emotional and existential distress caused by negative environmental change. The exhibition combines immersive, floor-to-ceiling mural prints of fire clouds, large-scale framed photographs of fires, and the artist’s written word to deliver an urgent reminder of our world’s fragility. The artist will be present in the gallery for the opening on September 6. In Aurora’s Main Gallery until December 15.

The exhibition Timbered Virtue, featuring work by artist and educator Lamar Richcreek (1947-2018), explores changes in American rural life and family farms, as seen through adult eyes and childhood memories. In Aurora’s Efroymson Gallery, the exhibition celebrates Richcreek’s thought-provoking images as well as his life modeling values of lifelong learning, the power of the arts, and the importance of integrity and respect for all. The exhibition Timbered Virtue will be accompanied by an essay written by celebrated photographic artist Linda Adele Goodine, who was Richcreek’s mentor, colleague at Herron School of Art and Design, and close friend. In Aurora’s Efroymson Gallery until October 15.

Please join Erin Patton McFarren for a two-hour workshop on printing cyanotypes on fabric. Cyanotype is a camera-less photography made out in the sun, rather than in a darkroom. You place objects — such as plants — on top of a piece of photo-treated fabric, and then use the sun to expose the fabric. The result is an image that is an exact outline of the objects in your composition.

In the workshop, we will mix and apply light sensitive chemistry on a 16-inch cotton handkerchief. You will then create a composition on the fabric using flowers and plants we will have on hand, or bring your own objects to use in your composition. After exposing the image, you will have a unique fabric cyanotype featuring the brilliant blue color that is the hallmark of the process.

Click here to register now!

Erin Patton McFarren earned a BA in Visual Arts and Sculpture from the University of Saint Francis and MLS in Media Studies from Indiana University. Her creative practice is grounded in meditation, involving constant exploration, process and experimentation. Erin is an established art educator teaching in the Reggio Emilia Approach and parent of two creative teenagers with her partner of 25 years. Her work is collected throughout the US and internationally and is held in the Contemporary Photography Collection of the Fort Wayne Museum of Art. She was recently awarded a Fellowship from the Lilly Endowment to take her “traveling studio” to Brazil during the summer of 2024.

Registration required
Limited to 20 participants
Registration closes August 21 or when filled

Non-Members: $45
Aurora Members: $40

Hosted at Tube Factory Artspace, 2024 Aurora resident William Camargo will give a talk about his art practice, and the role that residencies play in his work. Camargo uses photography, installation, public interventions, and archives to address gentrification, police violence, and Chicanx/Latinx histories. During the two weeks of his residency in Indianapolis, Camargo will print work from his series, A Little Brown Interference, at Herron School of Art and Design. You can read more about the series and the artist’s residency plans here.

William Camargo is a photo-based artist and educator born and raised in Anaheim, California. He is a photography lecturer at the University of California San Diego and Cal State Fullerton. He attained his MFA from Claremont Graduate University, a BFA from Cal State Fullerton, and an AA at Fullerton Community College. William is the founder and curator of Latinx Diaspora Archives, an archive Instagram page that elevates communities of color through family photos. William has had residencies at the Latinx Project at NYU, Light Work in Syracuse, NY,  TILT Institute for Contemporary Image in Philadelphia, the Center for Photography at Woodstock, NY, and Penumbra Foundation, NYC. William's work has been exhibited and published internationally, including at The Cheech Center for Chicano Art, Frost Museum of Art, and Princeton Museum of Art. His works are in held several public and private collections, including the Huntington Library, the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, and the Los Angeles Museum of Art.

Free and open to the public
At Tube Factory Artspace

Toners can add richness, depth, and new dimensions to your photographic prints. In this workshop with Anna Schink, we will create environmentally-friendly toners using the beauty of seasonal Indiana-native plants and flowers from local gardens. Anna will have a variety of flowers and plants on hand, but feel free to bring some clippings from your own beds.

We will experiment with different strengths of steeping the botanicals in water, and with times, to create a range of effects. This is a hands-on workshop that encourages discovery. Participants should bring their own prints and test strips to work with; please bring prints you can afford to experiment on, not precious originals. Fiber based, multigrade, and hand-coated papers of all finishes should be suitable for the workshop; email ahead if you have a question about a specific paper finish and toner combo. This workshop is best suited to artists 16+ years old; minors must be accompanied by an adult.

Click here to register now!

Anna E Schink is a teaching artist and creative consultant working in cameraless photography with an emphasis on found and reclaimed objects. Her studio practice is a liminal space between the physical and ephemeral, drawing on embodiment practices of tarot, dream work, and hypnosis. She has exhibited internationally and been awarded grants for creative projects in Venice and Prague. Her work is included in the permanent collection of the Kinsey Institute at Indiana University. Schink’s work is nourished by her role as an educator, where she mentors students to embrace process over product and cultivate creative resilience. She has been invited to manage four public darkrooms and leads workshops for artists aged 7-70. 

Registration required
Limited to 10 participants
Registration closes August 7 or when filled

Non-Members: $25
Aurora Members: $20

August is your last chance to see Aurora’s Summer Exhibitions! Please stop by for August First Friday at Aurora to see the exhibition Black Alchemy: Resolve (Attempt #2) in the Main Gallery and Again, Again in the Efroymson Gallery. In Black Alchemy, Aaron Turner re-presents cultural and familial images, exploring them as both subject matter and material. Using the studio as a space for construction, Turner employs cut paper, projected and natural light, black cloth, mirrors, paint, oil sticks, cellophane, and packaging materials for analog photography as building blocks for his images. Personal and cultural histories intertwine, as the artist also explores issues of representation in photography.

In June 2023, artist Ian Lewandowski spent two weeks photographing in Indianapolis for an Aurora Project Residency. Lewandowski focused on making large-format portraits of queer Hoosiers during Indy Pride, and the exhibition Again, Again is a celebration of Indy Pride and Lewandowski’s incredibly productive residency. In these oftentimes exuberant images, the artist brilliantly shows the power of photography to reflect who we are to ourselves and to our community.

Appointment required
$125 per person

Indianapolis photographer Dale Bernstein has been working with the wet plate collodion process since the 1990s, and his comfort level shows in the gorgeous tintype portraits that have become his hallmark. 

Wet plate collodion dates from the earliest days of photography in the mid-1800s. Back in the day, chemistry and materials were not very sensitive, and so subjects having their tintype portrait made had to sit absolutely still for several seconds in order to get a good, sharp exposure. This is why people didn’t smile in pictures from that era — it was too hard to hold a smile still that long. 

In his work, Dale combines wet plate collodion chemistry with modern flash lighting, making the exposure time of his tintypes within the realm of possibility for children and smiles! After making the exposure, Dale will walk you through processing the plate so that you can experience the process.

We’re excited to host this local legend at Aurora. To schedule a session on Tintype Portrait Day at Aurora PhotoCenter, make an appointment directly with Dale by messaging him on Instagram @dab_photography, or email dalebernstein@gmail.com.

Your appointment will last approximately 15 minutes. Price per person includes one exposure on a 5 x 7 plate. After curing and varnishing, you will pick up your finished tintype at Aurora PhotoCenter on August 3 from 11-5pm or by appointment.

This special Thursday Night Photobook Throwdown features a virtual photobook share with accomplished artists Melissa Catanese and Ed Panar, who also run the Pittsburg-based photobook store and art space, Spaces Corners. Ed Panar is looking forward to talking about his book, Winter Nights, Walking, in the dead of summer — should cool things off a little. Melissa Catanese will share about her acclaimed photobook, The Lottery, in which she seamlessly combines her own recent photographs with anonymous vernacular photos, press images, and NASA archival imagery to evoke the mob mentality and tribalism of Shirley Jackson's short story “The Lottery” as well as the cosmic indeterminacy at the heart of our unfolding present. As party of the share, we’ll get a chance to ask the artists some questions about their work and making photobooks.

And still bring your new favorite photobooks to share - we want to see your latest picks!

Aurora with SPARK Monument Circle
Free and open to the public

SPARK is back for another season, making the pop-up park on Indy’s Monument Circle the downtown place to meet, enjoy the beautiful weather and people, and create. Aurora will be at the art kiosk close to the info booth in the middle of the park.

Cyanotype is a camera-less photography made out in the sun, rather than in a darkroom. You place objects — such as plants — on top of a piece of photo-treated paper, and then use the sun to expose the paper. The result is an image that is an exact outline of the object. It’s a fun and magical way to engage photography! Although it may be new to modern people, cyanotype has been around since photography was invented in the 1800s.

Come explore the creative possibilities of this fascinating process. We will have some objects on hand to experiment with, but feel free to bring your own. Flat items usually work best, and cyanotype can be messy, so precious things like family heirlooms should probably stay at home. All other necessary materials will be provided free at the workshop.

This activity is best suited for artists 7+ years old; minors must be accompanied by an adult.

Lumen is a type of cameraless photography made using the power of the sun. You place objects on photographic film or paper and then expose the composition to sunlight (or UV lights, if it's rainy), creating beautiful abstract images. Unlike many other darkroom-based processes, lumen prints are not monochromatic and often give surprising results due to their bright colors and dramatic hues that vary wildly based on the paper or objects used. Workshop leader Leni Wiegand will share her experience, as well as tips and tricks with lumen prints, as we learn and create together with this fun and often variable process!

Click here to register now!

In this workshop, we will use expired photographic darkroom papers to learn the basics of the lumen process. In addition, we will experiment with both black + white and color 4 x 5 film to push the limits of the process further, capture even more vibrant colors, and see how transparency can impact the final result. We will also discuss how to digitize your work so that you can preserve it — many lumen techniques are not light stable, and this will also allow you to post and share your amazing lumens online. 

Registration required
Limited to 20 participants
Registration closes July 10 or when filled

Non-Members: $45
Aurora Members: $40

Please stop by for July First Friday at Aurora to see the exhibition Black Alchemy: Resolve (Attempt #2) in the Main Gallery and Again, Again in the Efroymson Gallery. In Black Alchemy, Aaron Turner re-presents cultural and familial images, exploring them as both subject matter and material. Using the studio as a space for construction, Turner employs cut paper, projected and natural light, black cloth, mirrors, paint, oil sticks, cellophane, and packaging materials for analog photography as building blocks for his images. Personal and cultural histories intertwine, as the artist also explores issues of representation in photography.

In June 2023, artist Ian Lewandowski spent two weeks photographing in Indianapolis for an Aurora Project Residency. Lewandowski focused on making large-format portraits of queer Hoosiers during Indy Pride, and the exhibition Again, Again is a celebration of Indy Pride and Lewandowski’s incredibly productive residency. In these oftentimes exuberant images, the artist brilliantly shows the power of photography to reflect who we are to ourselves and to our community.

Aurora with SPARK Monument Circle
Free and open to the public

SPARK is back for another season, making the pop-up park on Indy’s Monument Circle the downtown place to meet, enjoy the beautiful weather and people, and create. Aurora will be at the art kiosk close to the info booth in the middle of the park.

Cyanotype is a camera-less photography made out in the sun, rather than in a darkroom. You place objects — such as plants — on top of a piece of photo-treated paper, and then use the sun to expose the paper. The result is an image that is an exact outline of the object. It’s a fun and magical way to engage photography! Although it may be new to modern people, cyanotype has been around since photography was invented in the 1800s.

Come explore the creative possibilities of this fascinating process. We will have some objects on hand to experiment with, but feel free to bring your own. Flat items usually work best, and cyanotype can be messy, so precious things like family heirlooms should probably stay at home. All other necessary materials will be provided free at the workshop.

This activity is best suited for artists 7+ years old; minors must be accompanied by an adult.

Thursday Night Photobook Throwdown
Free and open to the public

Back in June: For the Thursday Night Photobook Throwdown, bring your newest photobook, or the one you’ve recently fallen in love with again, and be ready for an evening of sharing, conversation, and appreciation for this format for photography that is an art form in and onto itself!

Don’t have a book in mind to share? Not to worry — you can also comb through Aurora’s photobook library of over 300 titles for a wildcard if you’re feeling lucky that night.

We will start at the tables in the Aurora PhotoCenter Gallery, Suite C9, and then migrate down to a close-by watering hole when the mood strikes us or 7pm, whichever comes first!

Hosted by Dream Palace Books & Coffee, artist Ian Lewandowski will give a presentation about the work he made during his 2023 Aurora PhotoCenter Project Residency when he spent two weeks in Indianapolis photographing queer Hoosiers during Indy Pride celebrations. The artist will be joined in conversation by Ben Bascom, teacher and scholar of early and nineteenth-century American literature and LGBTQ studies, and Mary Goodwin, Director at Aurora PhotoCenter. The panel discussion will be followed by a Q & A with the audience.

Copies of the limited edition book Again, Again, with an essay by Bascom and designed and produced in risograph by Brian Hitselberger, will be available for purchase.

Register today! Van Dyke brown printing is a 19th-Century process that produces earth tones, including beautiful blacks, sepias, and browns. Van Dyke brown prints are very simple and economical to make: Images are converted into digital negatives and then contact printed with UV light (the sun, if weather permits) and developed/fixed with water and hypo.

In conjunction with his exhibition at Aurora, artist Aaron Turner will lead this one-session workshop on the Van Dyke brown printing process. In the workshop, Turner will outline the process for outputting images as digital negatives; a set of already-printed digital negatives will be on hand for use during the workshop. We will learn the basics of coating the paper for exposure, and then get hands-on by exposing and fixing our own 8 x 10 Van Dyke prints.

Click here to register now

A basic knowledge of alternative processes is desirable, but the Van Dyke process is very easy to grasp, and all skill levels are welcome to enroll. All equipment and materials will be supplied on site. This workshop is best suited to artists 16+ years old; minors must be accompanied by an adult.

Registration required
Limited to 10 participants
Registration closes June 5 or when filled
Non-Members: $25
Aurora Members: $20
(Enter Member VIP code at checkout for discount)

Click here to register today!

Please join us as Aurora marks its 5th Anniversary of programming with the opening of exhibitions by Aaron R. Turner and Ian Lewandowski. Both artists will be present in the galleries for the evening, and we will celebrate with lots of good cocktails, hors d’oeuvres, and music!

In the exhibition Black Alchemy: Resolve (Attempt #2), Aaron Turner re-presents cultural and familial images, exploring them as both subject matter and material. Using the studio as a space for construction, Turner employs cut paper, projected and natural light, black cloth, mirrors, paint, oil sticks, cellophane, and packaging materials for analog photography as building blocks for his images. In conjunction with the exhibition, Turner will lead a workshop on Van Dyke printing on June 8, 1-4pm.

In June 2023, artist Ian Lewandowski spent two weeks photographing in Indianapolis for an Aurora Project Residency. Lewandowski focused on making large-format portraits of queer Hoosiers during Indy Pride, and the exhibition Again, Again is a celebration of Indy Pride and Lewandowski’s incredibly productive residency. 

Since 2019, Aurora has worked with a host of partners and collaborators, including Tube Factory Artspace/Big Car, Herron School of Art, and Indy Arts Council, among many others, to support visual artists working in photography through exhibitions, residencies, workshops, artist talks, and access to creative tools.

Opening for the exhibition Encompass Self
Free and open to the public

Please join us in celebrating the opening of the exhibition Encompass Self, which presents the work of seven emerging Indianapolis artists as they prepare to enter the world of art making outside of the academic studio. The artists ask us to ponder our own relationship to our identity through questioning their own.

Through their work, the participating artists, including Corrin Larson, Malaya Lee, Kate McAninch, Nasya McGee, Squid Stewart, Alexander Toms, and Connor Wright, share a key part of being an artist — that the questions we ask are oftentimes more important than the answers. On view in Aurora’s Main Gallery until May 15.

Thursday Night Photobook Throwdown
Free and open to the public

For the April Thursday Night Photobook Throwdown, bring your newest photobook, or the one you’ve recently fallen in love with again, for an evening of sharing, conversation, and appreciation for this format for photography that is an art form in and onto itself!

Don’t have a book in mind to share? Not to worry — you can also comb through Aurora’s photobook library of over 300 titles for a wildcard if you’re feeling lucky that night.

We will start at the tables in the Aurora PhotoCenter Gallery, Suite C9, and then migrate down to a close-by watering hole when the mood strikes us or 7pm, whichever comes first!

Following the Winter Light
An Artist Talk with Charles Yang
Free and open to the public

In this intimate, interactive artist talk, the first in a series by local Indianapolis photographers, Charles Yang, Indy-based neuroscientist turned socio-cultural street photographer, steps beyond the surface as he explores locations including Northern Thailand, Northern Vietnam, and Japan through his images. Yang’s passion for photography began in his teens when his father gave him an old camera along with a subscription to National Geographic magazine. Over the last five decades, Yang has lived and worked globally, including in Hong Kong, England, Canada, the United States, and China, always with a camera on his side.

The artist writes of his work, “For years, I have chased after unique light and moments in diverse corners of the world, often relying on my feet and local public transport. This forced me to immerse myself in the daily lives of the people I encountered, leading me to unseen angles and hidden gems bathed in extraordinary light. For me, the subtropical climate with its heat and humidity demands a winter escape. Guided by the magic of the winter sun, I have embarked on solo journeys to capture the essence in these captivating communities.” The artist talk will be interactive, allowing viewers to ask questions and engage with the artist’s socio-cultural commentary, which is woven into each photograph.

Charles Yang has self-published three photographic monographs, Shanghai: the Pre-COVID Soul of The City (2020-2017), On Reading: From Analogue To Digital, and Under The Moroccan Winter Sun. His color and monochrome prints have been exhibited at Darkroom Revelations Gallery, and he has had joint print exhibitions with Lesley Ackman at Harrison Art Center and Garfield Park Art Center in Indianapolis.

Discover Photograms
Free and open to the public

Photograms are a kind of camera-less photography made in the darkroom in which you place objects directly on a piece of photographic paper and then expose the composition to the enlarger light. The result is a black-and-white image in which solid objects appear white and translucent objects and materials appear in an almost “x-ray” effect caused by light shining through. The contours of the objects are rendered in sharp shapes and lines, sometimes ultra-realistically.

Photograms are a great introduction to photography and the darkroom - if you don’t like your first attempt, just try another one! In this open session, we will have sheets of 8 x 10 paper, chemistry, and a variety of objects on site to start your compositions; feel free to bring your own objects and materials, keeping in mind that darkroom chemistry can stain. Working space is limited in the darkroom, so a max of three people can work on one picture at a time.

This photograph open session is free and open to the public. This activity is best suited for artists age 7+; minors must be accompanied by an adult.