The Shore Is the Long Way Home
New Work by Atefeh Farajolahzadeh
December 5 - January 23, 2026
Opening Reception: December 5, 6-9pm
Free and open to the public
Aurora PhotoCenter, Efroymson Gallery
1125 Brookside Avenue, Suite C9, Indianapolis
Atefeh Farajolahzadeh is an interdisciplinary artist whose practice incorporates photography, video, installation, and writing. Her work explores ideas of place, psychogeography, and liminality, with a particular focus on migration. In her newest photo and light installation, The Shore Is the Long Way Home, Farajolahzadeh expresses the uncertainty and cyclical nature of the experience of immigration — psychologically moving, never fully arriving. In this work, water, both as a physical path and a powerful metaphor, is the primary element represented in different forms, shapes, colors, and light to evoke the emotional terrain of migration from one home to another.
The installation consists of photo light boxes that are programmed by a microcontroller, cycling the lights on and off to create shifting patterns of light and shadow. This continuous looping between illumination and darkness creates space for viewers to contemplate the psychological and physical states that define this experience: hope, despair, fear, and the constant struggle for survival.
Atefeh Farajolahzadeh holds an MFA in photography from Columbia College Chicago. She is the recipient of the 2023 Cleveland Arts Prize, and her work has been exhibited at Ground Floor, Hyde Park Art Center’s biennial exhibition, Chicago; Filter Photo, Chicago; and SPACES, Cleveland; among others. She is currently a visiting assistant professor at Indiana University in Bloomington.
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., Allen Whitehill Clowes Charitable Foundation, Indiana Arts Commission, Aurora Members, and donors who believe in Aurora’s mission.