Aperture Loves New York
New York has always held a particular fascination for photographers. Its crowded streets, diverse communities, changing neighborhoods, and everyday contradictions have inspired generations of artists, each offering a different perspective on a city that seems impossible to capture in a single image. With Aperture Loves New York, the renowned photography publisher celebrates this enduring relationship while inaugurating its new permanent home on Manhattan’s Upper West Side.
Located at 380 Columbus Avenue, across from the American Museum of Natural History, the new space opened on September 18, 2026. Founded in 1952, Aperture has spent more than seven decades supporting photography through publications, exhibitions, and educational programs. Its new headquarters brings these activities together under one roof.
Curated by Aperture’s executive director, Sarah Meister, the inaugural exhibition features works by 24 photographers whose images have contributed to the visual history of New York. The selection spans several generations, from Diane Arbus, Robert Frank, Lee Friedlander, Nan Goldin, and Stephen Shore to Dawoud Bey, Deana Lawson, Tyler Mitchell, Coreen Simpson, Justine Kurland, and Carrie Mae Weems.
Rather than presenting a comprehensive portrait of the city, the exhibition explores the many ways photographers have experienced and interpreted it. The images move between public and private life, moments of intimacy and collective experience, familiar streets and overlooked corners, revealing a city constantly being transformed.
Each photograph is presented alongside a corresponding Aperture publication, inviting visitors to consider how images acquire different meanings on a gallery wall and within the pages of a book. Sequencing, scale, text, and materiality all influence the viewing experience, highlighting the central role photobooks have played in Aperture’s history.
The installation also embraces the architectural character of the new space. Exposed brick walls, fireplaces, and original details create an intimate atmosphere, encouraging visitors to move naturally between photographs and books rather than following a conventional museum itinerary.
Among the works on view, Ernest Cole’s photographs of Harlem from the late 1960s and early 1970s capture the vitality of Black urban life, while Justine Kurland’s Playground (1998) portrays teenage girls occupying a public space with a sense of independence and rebellion. Stephen Shore’s photograph of Crosby Street and Grand Street reveals a surprisingly quiet Manhattan, while Danny Lyon documents the transformation of Lower Manhattan through demolition and redevelopment.
Elsewhere, Coreen Simpson celebrates the energy of Black New York, Nan Goldin offers intimate glimpses into personal relationships, and Deana Lawson explores identity and representation. Together, these different approaches reveal a city that can be crowded and solitary, vibrant and contemplative, familiar and unpredictable.
Alongside the exhibition, Aperture’s new home includes a bookstore featuring its publications and a collaboration with Dashwood Books, the independent New York bookstore dedicated to photography. A rotating program of guest publishers begins with a selection curated by Anshika Varma of Offset Projects, highlighting India’s independent publishing scene. Artist talks, book launches, and public events will further establish the space as a meeting point for the photographic community.
On view through November 1, 2026, Aperture Loves New York celebrates both the city’s photographic heritage and a new chapter in Aperture’s history. Bringing together images created across generations, the exhibition offers a reminder that New York has never belonged to a single photographic vision. Its story continues to unfold through the eyes of those who photograph its streets, people, and everyday life.
Aperture Loves New York
until November 1, 2026
Aperture Gallery – New York – USA
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(Cover picture by Carrie Mae Weems)
