From River, Red by Ahmed Ozsever

November First Friday in Aurora’s Efroymson Gallery: Bloomington-based artist Ahmed Ozsever will have a special pop-up exhibition and book release event for his series River, Red, a visual art and research project that observes the space created by natural river migration. The project explores concepts of time as made evident in land, the malleability of human imposed borders, and the contrasting temporalities that can be perceived in nature and those that are human constructs.

Ozsever writes of the project, “I visited the Red River and traversed the space between the current location of the river and the recorded location of the river as of 1923, when the southern bank was legally declared the border between Texas and Oklahoma. Since then, intense erosion and accretion have caused the river to move by upwards of one mile in any respective direction in certain areas. This differential has incited disputes over private property, state borders, and Indigenous Land. River, Red, seeks to visually quantify the space that we are unable to anticipate by documenting both the natural and human-made landscapes that I encounter in that space.”

River, Red will be published by Bridge Books (Chicago) for release in October 2026. Ozsever will be present in the gallery for the November 6 opening and will have copies of the River, Red book for sale and to sign. The exhibition will be on view until November 25.

Image by Tomiko Jones

In Aurora’s Main Gallery: These Grand Places began in 2017 when Jones saw a list of federally-protected public land to be reviewed for de-regulation. At sites spanning Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, and California, she immersed herself in these vulnerable landscapes to consider how the concepts of public land and national identity relate to each other — who belongs, what land is viewed as worthy of protection, and how politics and power shape America’s physical and social environment. These Grand Places celebrates the beauty of America while asking us to consider our collective ties to this place we call home, and to each other. On view through November 20.

At 7pm in Aurora’s Main Gallery: Indianapolis-based artist Chayton Davidson will give a talk about his work as part of Aurora’s 2026 Local Lens Speakers Series.