Mysterious colored smoke animates the landscape. Melissa Dubbin and Aaron Davidson in Alchemical at Steven Kasher Gallery.

Great unexpected angle/vantage point in this Bertien van Manen image in the sleep themed show at Andrea Meislin Gallery.

Half landscapes, half birds at the Eliot Porter show at Paula Cooper.

A recent Daniel Gordon constructed face in the anniversary show at Wallspace. Picasso-esque, but still photographic.

Late 80s B/W panoramas of US/Mexico border drop sites. Susan Meiselas in the group show at Galerie Lelong.

Lookalike paired portraits of young women and Egyptian statues. Lorraine O’Grady in Skin Trade at PPOW Gallery.

Quirky late 60s conceptualism – Robert Kinmont’s favorite dirt roads portfolio at Alexander and Bonin.

Nude lost in the textural, all-over patterns of indoor plants. Scott Alario in the RISD MFA show at ClampArt.

Cinematic diptychs with elusive, enigmatic narratives. Mac Adams at Elizabeth Dee.

Typology of overgrown, ivy-covered tombstones. Lisa Tan in the summer group show at Simon Preston.

Rosalind Solomon’s honest/tender 1980s “Portraits in the Time of AIDS” project, revisited at Bruce Silverstein.

Alfredo Jaar’s haunting portfolio of Robben Island prison scenes, in the group show at Peter Blum.

The ruins of Pripyat (‘Atomgrad’) measured by an O’Sullivan-like yardstick. Jane and Louise Wilson at 303 Gallery.

Video interviews explore the lost pathways of Arab photographic history/memory. Akram Zaatari at MoMA.

The dark despair of mourning. María Magdalena Campos-Pons in the summer group show at Stephan Stoyanov Gallery.

Photocollage of gold bunting, palm fronds, and a floral dress. Thrush Holmes in the summer group show at Feature Inc.

Fishing in the hole of a bagel with cream cheese. Christopher Boffoli at Winston Wächter Fine Art.

Optimism in photographic edition sizing.

A layered world of plywood, pressboard, wooden boxes and naked limbs. Mika Rottenberg in the Jew York show at Untitled.

Modified star charts where constellations are replaced by images of animal fur. Demetrius Oliver at Louis B. James.