Pushing the Outer Limits of Photography

Curated by Charlotte Cotton, the New York exhibit “Summer Open: Photography Is Magic” features works by 50 artists who are reinventing the genre of photography and exploiting the medium to different creative ends. Consider the shattered, drifting pieces of rock in one photograph, or another eerie image by Ailbhe Greaney, of a woman in floral-printed clothing who seems to melt into the wallpaper behind her.

For another artist, Ellen Carey, the subject of a photograph isn’t a person or place but color itself: In one shot, she captures crinkly, candy-wrapper-like materials bending and refracting the light in psychedelic colors. (Fun fact: The layered photograph is actually a series of photograms, produced without a camera.)

The open-submission show is on view at Aperture Gallery until August 11. Click ahead to preview the exhibit, including punctured holes as glittery white sparks, an X-ray-like portrait of a woman wearing a colorful quilt, and a correctional-center room covered in cosmic illustrations.