Photography Highlights from NADA New York 2026

It’s often been the case over the past few years that there hasn’t been very much photography to be found at the NADA New York art fair – painting , painting, and more painting is the norm, especially for many of the small and emerging galleries that tend to exhibit here. But after a spin through the densely packed booths of the 2026 edition, I was able to extract more than a handful of photographs worth thinking about some more, so maybe we’ve turned the corner and can hope for better photo representation going forward. It only takes a few brave standouts to start a trend, so let’s celebrate those that bucked the prevailing wisdom about what collectors want to see (and will buy) and showed some intriguing contemporary photography.

As with our other art fair reports from this past week, the images below are supported by linked gallery names, artist names, dates, prices (as available), and a short discussion or commentary.

COHJU (here): Shengze is a Chinese photographer working in Japan, and this image plays with the masculinity of the assassin persona. Armed with a knife in his teeth, the crouched body is turned into a study of lines and angles. Priced at $2000.

Third Born (here): This booth was a solo presentation of boxed combine works by the French artist Loucia Carlier from her series “Cheap Dreams”. Here torn photographs of found and discarded furniture are layered together with upholstered faux leather, creating a Joseph Cornell-like interplay of image and object. Priced at $3520.

Luis De Jesus Los Angeles (here): Lia Halloran’s large scale cyanotypes take the work of the early 20th century female astronomers known as the “Harvard Computers” as their inspiration. To create the impression of stellar fields and cosmic vistas they meticulously documented, she intermingles painted negatives and photographic printing, resulting in ethereal swirls and spots of white on blue. Priced at $6000.

Miriam Gallery (here): Shining trails of spider web are interpreted twice in this work by Gi (Ginny) Huo, once in drawing and once in photography. The two mediums are then nested together, offering symbolic echoes of the “ballooning” way spiders travel and the communication via balloons across the border between North and South Korea. Images like these were then embedded in twisted steel sculptures, recently on view at Princeton. Priced at $4000.

Miriam Gallery (here): This recent self-portrait by Martha Naranjo Sandoval continues her exploration of her immigrant identity, wearing a Mexican soccer jersey as she navigates a barbed wire fence with the city in the distance. It’s a picture that blends optimism, obstacles, perseverance, and can-do spirit, as seen in a larger print than the artist has shown before. Priced at $3400.

Emmanuelle G Contemporary Art (here): While it’s difficult to see from this image, this recent work by the Brazilian artist Alessandra Rehder is actually two layers, with one layer of cut photographic fragments pinned above the second underlying (and doubled) print. The result is a sense of shifting spatial depth, of leaves and flowers in the tropical rainforest raised above and set behind. Priced at $29000 (12 prints).

Central Art Garage (here): Joi T. Arcand is an indigenous artist from the Muskeg Lake Cree Nation in Saskatchewan, Canada, and this small booth was a solo presentation of her recent photo reworkings of “The Baby-Sitters Club” book covers, casting herself in all the roles. The switch casts light on the caregivers and childless women in indigenous communities, extending beyond traditional motherhood. Priced at $5095.

ro art services (here): Black spots of camouflage behind the eyes of seagulls create mysterious faces in this diptych by Assaf Evron. Pushed into high contrast and reoirented, the forms become indefinite, like ghosts. From 2008-2015, priced at $5500.

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Read more about: Alessandra Rehder, Assaf Evron, Gi (Ginny) Huo, Joi T. Arcand, Lia Halloran, Loucia Carlier, Martha Naranjo Sandoval, Shengze, Central Art Garage, COHJU, Emmanuelle G Contemporary Art, Luis De Jesus Los Angeles, Miriam Gallery, ro art services, Third Born, NADA New York

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