© Sophie Gamand

There’s nothing like Photoville. For New York City’s single largest annual photography event, United Photo Industries has repurposed over sixty shipping containers

, transforming them into miniature art galleries lining Brooklyn Bridge Park.

Part of what makes Photoville so unique is it’s diversity, and this year’s lineup touches on the most pressing topics of our time: climate change, human rights, and yes, even animal rights. From photographer Sophie Gamand’s pit bull adoption event, where visitors can meet their new best friend, to the unforgettable and deeply human work of the late Chris Hondros and other conflict photographs who followed in his footsteps, Photoville 2016 takes us around the world and back home again, reminding us of the power photography has always held while pointing to a future none of us can predict.

We put together this list of 15 exhibitions we’re most excited to see, ranging from the clever to the profound and everything in between. Photoville opens today at 4:00 PM.

EXHIBITION: Flower Power, September 21 – 25, 2016.
Presented by Sophie Gamand.
The photography of Sophie Gamand has saved the lives of countless shelter dogs, including pit bull type dogs, who are euthanized across the country more frequently than any other kind of dog (about one million per year) due to prejudice and stereotypes. By dressing homeless pit bulls in flower crowns, Gamand has not only helped to further the worldwide movement against breed-based discrimination and legislation, but she has also encouraged people to adopt many of the gentle creatures featured in her portraits. Photoville 2016 marks the artist’s first solo exhibition in the United States, and to celebrate the occasion some of her canine models will be joining her for a very Special Flower Power Dog Adoption event. All will be on the lookout for loving homes in the crowd.

© Ami Vitale / National Geographic

EXHIBITION: Rewilding Pandas in China, September 21 – 25, 2016.
Supported by National Geographic, curated by Sadie Quarrier, and featuring Ami Vitale.
National Geographic photographer Ami Vitale tells the story of China’s giant panda and their quest for survival. In China, environmentalist and scientists alike have put into action efforts to repopulate panda communities in the wild by breeding them in captivity. The Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda, run by Zhang Hemin, is at the forefront of the movement to save the species. Sadie Quarrier curates this exhibition from Vitale’s three years with the pandas.

“We live here, we were born here, we have grown up here. But the place I feel in my heart is Turkey,” says Ali Tecimen, 34 (back row, blue jacket). His grandparents (front) came to Germany in the 1970s as guest workers, when his mother (right) was a child. The family, including Tecimen’s wife (left) and two children, lives in Berlin. © Robin Hammond / National Geographic. This image appears in the October issue of National Geographic magazine.

EXHIBITION: The New Europeans, September 21 – 25, 2016.
Presented by National Geographic, curated by Whitney Johnson, and featuring Robin Hammond.
To coincide with the October issue of National Geographic magazine, photographer and human rights activist Robin Hammond reveals a series of portraits made throughout the European continent featuring individuals who settled in Europe following crisis in their countries of origin. In response to the arrival of over one million refugees to cross Europe’s borders last year, he tells the many stories of people who were forces to leave home, and if they were lucky, were given the chance to build a new one. Read more here.

Miami downtown seen from a helicopter. It’s been predicted that by 2060, Miami Beach and the Bay area need to be evacuated and by 2100, 60% of the city will need to be evacuated, including the downtown area. So far, experts think that Miami can not be protected due to the fact that it’s built on limestone. © Kadir van Lohuizen / NOOR

EXHIBITION: Where Will We Go: The Human Consequences of Rising Sea Levels, September 21 – 25, 2016.
Presented by United Photo Industries & NOOR and featuring Kadir van Lohuizen.
The world is already seeing its first climate refugees, and millions more are predicted in the coming years. Photojournalist Kadir van Lohuizen reveals the ways in which predictions and estimates for rising sea levels have come to pass, and in many cases, been surpassed. He traveled the globe, touching down in the US, UK, Bangladesh, Panama, Kiribat, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, to record the effects of climate change, including flooding, water contamination, land erosion, and infertile land.

Two Iraqi girls look at Staff Sgt. Nick Gibson of the 2nd Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment of the 2nd Infantry Division June 21, 2007 while canvassing the tense Dora neighborhood of Baghdad, Iraq. US soldiers canvas their area almost every day, attempting to get to know the residents and find insurgents. © Chris Hondros/Getty Images

Family: Bringing a Shared Sense of Humanity into the Public Eye, September 21 – 25, 2016.
Presented by Chris Hondros Fund, curated by David Furst, Todd Heisler, & Christina Piaia, and featuring Daniel Berehulak, Andrea Bruce, Bryan Denton, Kevin Frayer, Chris Hondros & Tomás Munita.
Winners of the Chris Hondros Fund & Getty Images Award join the late photographer in exhibiting work that cuts to the core of photojournalism around the world: an understanding of humanity, its suffering, and its joys. Based around the smallest community unit- the family- the images presented here represent the idea that beneath our boundaries, whether they be social, political, or geographical, we are far more alike than we are different.

© Robin de Puy

EXHIBITION: If This Is True… 8,000 Miles on a Motorcycle in the USA, September 21 – 25, 2016.
Presented by United Photo Industries, in partnership with Robin de Puy & The Ravestijn Gallery, curated by Jenny Smets, and featuring Robin de Puy.
In the spring of 2015, young, preeminent photographer Robin de Puy left behind the comforts of home and gallery openings to traverse the US on her Harley-Davidson. These pictures capture what she saw in a once-in-a-lifetime journey, the people she met, and the lessons she learned across thousands of miles.

© Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders

EXHIBITION: Forced From Home in Virtual Reality, September 21 – 25, 2016.
Presented by Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) and featuring Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).
Doctors Without Borders takes us into the lives of people forced from their homes and lives in Syria, Honduras, and Burundi with this interactive exhibition. Visitors are welcome to listen to the stories of displaced individuals through a VR headset tour, led by an aid worker, while taking in the imagery.

© Rockie Nolan

EXHIBITION: Represent: 29 Women We Admire, September 21 – 25, 2016.
Presented by Refinery29, curated by Toby Kaufmann and Amanda Gorence, featuring Ali Gavillet, Anastasia Samoylova, Cait Oppermann, Cassidy Turner, Emily Berl, Erin Yamagata, Helen Eriksson, Jacqueline Harriet, Jess Richmond, Julia Gunther, Kate Owen, Katherine Wolkoff, May Lin Le Goff, Mayan Toledano, Melody Melamed, Mindy Byrd, Molly Cranna, Michelle Groskopf, Natalie Keyssar, Nichole Washington, Olivia Malone, Parker Day, Pixy Liao, Rockie Nolan, Shanita Sims, Sam Cannon, Shaniqwa Jarvis, Simone Lueck and Tanya Habjouqa.
Spanning genres as diverse as documentary, fashion, and portrait photography, Refinery29 presents a collection of images by 29 female photographers who are thinking outside the box and redefining photographic culture.

EXHIBITION: Sensation Photography within Korean Photography, September 21 – 25, 2016
Presented by MUG Publishing, curated by Jinhee Bae & Extraordinary Project Team, and featuring Jinhee Bae, Jong Hyeon Baek , Hyong-ryol Bak, Hyun Mok Jung, Jaegu Kang, Gyoosik Kim, Jee Won Kim, Jiwon Kim, Sung Yong Kim, Yong Hoon Kim, Eun-jong Lee, Gun Young Lee, Ik Jae Lee, Jae Hoon Lee, Wonchul Lee, Hyung-geun Park, Jae-kwang Yang, Hongkyu Yang and Do Yang Zu.
Following the model of Sensation Photography, a magazine dedicated to publishing the lesser-known work by established artists, this exhibition showcases a range of work by Korean photographers working across genres. All 20 participating photographers were featured in the magazine; this show will frame their work and its implications within a larger historical and geographical context.

© Your Art Gallery

EXHIBITION: When Capture Meets Captivating, September 21 – 25, 2016
Presented by YourArtGallery.com, curated by Your Art Gallery, and featuring various artist.
Taking the T.S. Eliot phrase “Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far they can go,” as a point of departure, Your Art Gallery curates this show spotlighting some of their artists. Your Art Gallery is a competitive but democratic online gallery- the first of its kind- that cuts out the elitist and tired mode of most traditional art galleries by opening the floor and empowering all members of its community to evaluate the work of their peers.

Location and date unknown. © Ron Haviv

EXHIBITION: The Lost Rolls, September 21 – 25, 2016
Presented by The Lost Rolls Project in partnership with FUJIFILM North America and PhotoShelter, curated by Robert Peacock, and featuring Ron Haviv.
Ron Haviv presents work from his book The Lost Rolls, for which he revisited 200 of undeveloped film made over the last 25 years. The photojournalist, who has been at the frontline during many major news stories of the last decades, uncovers work he’d previously cast aside. The analog images, undeveloped for many years, do indeed bear the marks of time and age, opening up a new discussion about the meaning of our shift into the digital era. The public is invited to bring along their own “lost rolls” to be developed and scanned for free and included in a national archive. Haviv’s Lost Rolls America will later become a book.

© WaterAid / Mustafah Abdulaziz

EXHIBITION: Water Stories: A Photographic Exhibition, September 21 – 25, 2016
Presented by HSBC Water Programme, a partnership between HSBC, Earthwatch, WaterAid and WWF and featuring Mustafah Abdulaziz
Photojournalist Mustafah Abdulaziz creates this large-scale lightbox installation along East River, composed of images documenting the global water crisis. For the last five years, Abdulaziz has been traveling to regions where mankind’s relationship with water is imperiled. From the villages of Nigeria where an estimated 97,000 children die of diarrhea caused by unsafe water to the waterways of China, where illegal fishing has decimated endangered species population, Abdulaziz bears witness to the real and immediate dangers of climate change, deforestation, poor sanitation, and more. The project will continue for another decade in hopes of redirecting the course of human and environmental history.

A contestant gets her makeup ready backstage during the first Miss Trans Israel beauty pageant at HaBima, Israel’s national theater in Tel Aviv, Israel, Friday, May 27, 2016. Talleen Abu Hanna, 21, an Israeli from a Catholic Arab family has been crowned the winner of the country’s first transgender pageant. © AP Photo/Oded Balilty

EXHIBITION: Miss Trans Israel, September 21 – 25, 2016.
Presented by Shutterstock + The Associated Press, curated by Natalie Castaneda, and featuring Oded Balilty.
Israeli photographer Oded Balilty captures beauty, tolerance and pride at the country’s first pageant for transgender women. Here, women of different backgrounds and religions find hope and kinship in one another. Given recent violence in headlines throughout the Middle East, Balilty captures resilience and strength in the nation’s LGBT community.

© Josh Shagam

EXHIBITION: Exquisite Refrigerator, September 21 – 25, 2016.
Presented by SVA Masters in Digital Photography, featuring numerous alumni from the SVA Masters in Digital Photography.
This exhibition is a variation of the parlor game “exquisite corpse,” by which early 20th century surrealists created collaborative drawings and stories by passing a single piece of paper around a group, folding it each time so that each player only got a hint of the former’s contribution before making their own. In this version, audience members are invited to curate and arrange the work themselves, much like one does with refrigerator magnets. As time passes, the exhibition will change meanings based on who sets foot inside.

Kristal Bush has visited loved ones in Pennsylvania prisons for 22 years. Her first visit was to see her father when she was 5 years old. She now owns a van service that transports families to visit prisons across the state. © Zora J. Murff/@EverydayIncarceration 

EXHIBITION: Women on the Outside, September 21 – 25, 2016.
Presented by The Magnum Foundation and the Brown Institute for Media Innovation, curated by Lisa Riordan Seville and Zara Katz, and featuring Zara Katz, Lisa Riordan Seville, Zora J. Murff, Michael Krisch, Mark Hansen, Dalit Shalom.
This exhibition follows the work of Bridging the Gap, a business founded by a woman in Pennsylvania named Kristal Bush. Bridging the Gap provides transportation to family members visiting incarcerated loved ones, many of them women who must balance the responsibilities of daily life with their desire to keep the family together. The Bridging the Gap vans provide service to 16 prisons, building a community of people going through similar situations. Women on the Outside takes us on a multi-media journey to two prisons, sharing stories from women and children throughout the state.

See the full list of container exhibitions at Photoville here.

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