Photography Highlights from the 2026 Independent Art Fair

Expansively roomy. This was the dominant takeaway feeling from this year’s Independent Art Fair, hosted for the first time in the wide spaces of Pier 36. After several years of tight quarters at Cipriani South Street and Spring Street Studios, the broad aisles, high ceiling, and amply-sized booths (for even the smallest of presenters) of this warehouse-sized location made for an entirely different atmosphere, encouraging a much more hushed and deliberate engagement with the art rather than a jostled fight just to see the works on view.

While photography is only part of the story at a contemporary art fair like the Independent, there were pockets of intriguing photographs to be discovered here and there, often from galleries and artists somewhat outside our normal purview. In the slideshow below, a gathering of photographic highlights from the fair have been singled out, generally organized along a systematic progression through the numbered booths. As is the case with all of our art fair reports, the images below are supported by linked gallery names, artist names, dates, prices (as available), and a short discussion or commentary.

David Peter Francis (here): This billowing work by Carrie Schneider takes a snippet of time from Chris Marker’s La Jetée featuring the face of Hélène Châtelain and extends it into an urgently repeated study of the female face. Her process includes a room-sized camera and projection through a lens onto light sensitive paper, which explains the rough tape marks, grainy exposures, and color inversions. An even longer version of this work, extending to an astonishing 1 kilometer long, is now on view at the Venice Biennale. From 2026, priced at $60000.

Patel Brown (here): Cultural mixing and migratory birds feature prominently in the collages of the Moroccan/Canadian artist Laïla Mestari. Here lush fabrics and textiles create a layered gown, offering a complex story of identity and heritage. From 2026, priced at $4500.

OSMOS (here): This booth was a solo presentation of the work of Anton Stankowski, including photographs, paintings, prints, and graphic design. This 1929 photogram of peas was actually made on a sheet of glass in the enlarger, thereby allowing for more than one print. Priced at $12500.

Praise Shadows (here): Archival images of marchers and activists play a prominent role in Helina Metaferia’s collages, particularly women involved in civil rights and women’s rights protests of the past. In this 2026 series of still life collages, those same protestors are placed amid the calmer settings of tabletop arrangements, providing a moment of rest for those who worked so hard on behalf of others. Priced at $5000.

Jack Shainman Gallery (here): While it may not be immediately apparent, photography lies at the foundation of this new work by Charisse Pearlina Weston. Starting with images of surfaces and textures (some from surveillance cameras), the work is then built up with further additions of glass, grit, and other materials, leading to an abstracted interplay of geometries and residues. From 2026, priced at $20000.

Almeida & Dale (here): This surreal photomontage was made by the Brazilian photographer Miguel Rio Branco from images taken while on an artistic exchange trip to Japan. With a nod to Max Ernst, the montage combines bright yellow shoes with a swirl of fleshy sea creature, creating a charged interplay of seduction and horror. From 2007/2014, and priced at $25000.

Kerlin Gallery (here): This 1991 self portrait by the Irish artist Dorothy Cross combines an extended diving pose with an image of a shark. Her work in a variety of mediums has consistently mixed nature (particularly the ocean and geological formations) with bodies, creating lyrical (and sometimes conflicted) combinations of the two. Priced at $12000.

Buchmann Galerie (here): This group of clock images by the German-Iranian artist Bettina Pousttchi comes from her series “World Time Clock”. Made at roughly the same time at public clocks in cities around the world, the images (in contrasty black-and-white) consider the nature of synchronization, measurement, and collective structure. For New Yorkers, a large scale sculpture by Pousttchi was installed at Rockefeller Center earlier this spring. From 2011-2016, priced at $45000 each.

House of Seiko (here): This booth featured a selection of prints from Steve Kahn’s smart 1970s series “The Hollywood Suites”, which we reviewed back in 2018 (here). This image wasn’t included in that earlier show, but it’s a quiet knockout, the alignment of the line between the floor and wall placed at the height of the boots, making for a bold alternating contrast of white and black. Priced at $8000.

Callirrhoë (here): The last Alpha Romeo repair shop in Athens provides the worn and burnished subject matter for this series of images by Nikolas Ventourakis. With soft natural light coming in from the side, this wall of specialized tools has the tactile feeling of a 17th century Dutch interior scene. Priced at $5200.

PIBI Gallery (here): The Korean artist Lee Kyo Jun is likely best known for the abstract geometries of his paintings, but earlier in his career, he used photography and performance to consider the dynamics of space, as seen in this 1981 diptych. Here the positive and negative spaces of cutouts create hard edged forms, transforming a landscape into a series of distinct shapes and voids. Priced at $28000.

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Read more about: Anton Stankowski, Carrie Schneider, Charisse Pearlina Weston, Dorothy Cross, Helina Metaferia, Laïla Mestari, Lee Kyo Jun, Miguel Rio Branco, Nikolas Ventourakis, Steve Kahn, Almeida & Dale, Callirrhoë, David Peter Francis, House of Seiko, Jack Shainman Gallery, Kerlin Gallery, OSMOS Address, Patel Brown Gallery, PIBI Gallery, Praise Shadows Art Gallery, Independent Art Fair

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