The inaugural edition of Photofairs New York is coming to the Javits Center this September with a wide-ranging roster of photo-based exhibitions and artists.
Fairgoers headed to New York City’s Javits Center this fall to visit the Armory Show should plan to also attend Photofairs New York, the city’s newest art fair focused on photography. A sister event to Photofairs Shanghai, the inaugural U.S. edition will showcase photo-based and digital works.
Held concurrently with the Armory Show from September 8 to September 10 and hosted in the same location, Photofairs New York will feature exhibitors from more than 20 different cities around the world. Like Photofairs Shanghai, which debuted in 2014 and is Asia’s largest photography art fair, the contemporary photo show will be organized by events company Creo and its majority shareholder, Angus Montgomery Arts.
More than a third of Photofairs New York will be dedicated to solo exhibitions, as announced by the fair today (July 27). Highlights will include images exploring indigenization from Adama Delphine Fawundu and Ghanaian street photography by Caleb Kwarteng Prah. Nicole Wilson’s photographs capturing the process of ancient and contemporary tattoo practices will be included among the solo presentations, as will Maleonn’s tribute to Hieronymus Bosch’s 15th-century work The Garden of Earthly Delights.
A focus on digital artwork and the process of photography
The fair’s wide-ranging presentations offer “an expansive and forward-thinking view of photograph and image-making,” said Helen Toomer, director of Photofairs New York, in a statement. Several artists will showcase works focused on the process of image making, including a series from Rhiannon Adams consisting of large-scale Polaroid emulsion lifts on watercolor paper.
Explorations of digital media are another theme explored by Photofairs New York, which will include an exhibition by Postmasters Gallery featuring an artificial intelligence (A.I.)-assisted app from Damjanski and a sculpture by Jennifer and Kevin McCoy that utilizes cinematic footage created through an algorithm.
Special projects from Photofairs New York programming partners will include Fotografiska’s installation of Indigeneity and Futurism portraits from Cara Romero and art collective For Freedom’s collection of photography-based artwork. Beyond photos, attendees will see activations like an algorithm-controlled project from Daniel Rozin, presented by bitforms, and a video animation and soundscape commemorating an extinct pigeon species created by Sayler/Morris.
Partners like the Cultivist, Gagosian Quarterly and the International Center of Photography will support a Photofairs conversation series. And through its partnership with museum and hotel chain 21c, Photofairs New York will launch the inaugural 21c Acquisition Prize, with an exhibiting artist’s work joining the 21c collection. “We are excited about discovering visionary artists working in innovative photographic and digital media,” said Alice Gray Stites, director and chief curator at 21c, in a statement.
