Nowhere in Particular
Carlos Perez
October 3-November 21, 2025
Opening Reception: October 3, 6-9pm
Free and open to the public
Aurora PhotoCenter, Efroymson Gallery
1125 Brookside Avenue, Suite C9, Indianapolis
Aurora is pleased to present the series Nowhere in Particular by Indiana-based artist Carlos Perez. In this work, Perez explores color as it plays out on the Indiana cityscape, using contact sheet photography to create enormously detailed, large-scale images that are simultaneously hyper-descriptive and abstract. In Nowhere in Particular, everyday scenes and quiet streets are elevated with new beauty and unexpected movement; the mosaic-like form of the images suggests that these American views, like America itself, is larger than the sum of its parts.
Perez writes of his work:
Nowhere in Particular is a series of contact sheets that present a slow, deliberate navigation through parts east of central Indiana. A contact sheet is a photographic print of an entire roll of film, traditionally used to help photographers decide which frame to enlarge. Each print in this series was made with expired color negative film and offers a dissected view into the mundanity of life living in and around the area. Unremarkable stretches of land, motionless symbols, and subtle signs of life shape the landscape of a small-town America.
The camera isn’t focused on spectacle. It is being positioned, paused, and repositioned again. The rhythm created by this action becomes both a technical limitation and a conceptual foundation. Human error plays a significant role in this process allowing mis-sequencing and dust to make their way onto the print. However, these visual artifacts are embraced. By breaking the landscape into several smaller parts, the attention is placed on the quiet details that lie within each frame. A flag hangs limp, cars sit motionless under an overcast sky, a neighbor’s house telling me to keep out. These scenes aren’t dramatic in any way but insist on being seen.
The aim of this series isn’t to romanticize or mourn the decline of the Midwest town. Rather, it seeks to take a closer look at what is already there. The contradictions, the scale of patriotism, and the emptiness all point towards the reality of what it feels like to live in a small town in the Midwest: quiet, mundane, and unremarkable.
First exhibited at L.A. PIttinger Student Center at Ball State University in April 2025, Nowhere in Particular was censored by the Student Center when they removed the work Liquor Store without notice or explanation. The 4 x 8-foot print was damaged in the removal. Although Perez was compensated for the damaged work, this exhibition features the original print, as well as an explanatory text and short film, to continue the conversation on censorship and who controls what we see and why.
Carlos Perez has a BA in Photography with a minor in Computer Information Technology from Ball State University. Perez was an intern at Aurora PhotoCenter in 2024 and is currently lab manager at Aurora.
Annual operating support for Aurora PhotoCenter provided by the City of Indianapolis through the Indy Arts Council. Additional annual support provided by the Efroymson Family Fund, Joy of Giving Something Foundation, Inc., Aurora Members, and donors who believe in Aurora’s mission.