“Zara #01,” 2008. A hotdog vendor looks at a woman next to a Zara billboard on 5th Avenue. All Images © Natan Dvir/Courtesy of Anastasia Photo

Israeli photographer Natan Dvir‘s first exhibition at Anastasia Photo is currently on view through May 19th. Dvir began this series, “Coming Soon,” in response to his surprise, as a foreigner, at the “numerous ads and billboards covering New York City in a kaleidoscopic commercial net.” By juxtaposing giant billboards against seemingly miniature humans in everyday street scenes, he explores our relationship with branded city centers and the commercial environment we live in.

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All photos © Paolo Pellizzari. Above: France, Saint Macaire, Tour de France, 2000

In Paolo Pellizzari’s The Broad Way,” the photographer captures bright-colored panoramic landscapes around the world. He uses a Noblex camera, which captures a 135 degree view that corresponds to the natural sweep of the human eye. Rich in detail, each photograph illustrates a scene of daily life, making the viewer feel a part of the scene. Pellizzari’s photos are on view at Anastasia Photo until August 31.

-courtesy of Anastasia Photo

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All photos © Jonathan Alpeyrie

Jonathan Alpeyrie‘s exhibition World War II Veterans is currently on view at Anastasia Photo. His documentation spans 62 nations and features a powerful selection of diptychs of veterans from opposing sides in the war. He hopes to publish a book as one way to possibly reunite veterans from these different nationalities. Anastasia-Photo specializes documentary photography and photojournalism, and connects its exhibitions to philanthropic organizations that are in some way related to each show. For Alpeyrie’s exhibition, the gallery has selected to support  Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America.

Above: Thomas was photographed during a WWII veteran rally in Scotland. He fought as a courier in North Africa and later in Burma with the Chindits.
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© Marcus Bleasdale. Above: An early morning religious service in the Gety displaced camp, just days before the historic 2006 elections.

Marcus Bleasdale’s first exhibition at the Anastasia Photo gallery, featuring over ten years of documentation on conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo, is on view until October 21, 2011. His work there has highlighted the causes and devastating effects of the war. Reserves of diamonds and gold that could enrich a nation are a curse in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where a war over those resources has inflicted a large death toll. “The problems in Congo are vast and sometimes the whole problem feels just too huge to fix” says Bleasdale. “I think there’s one thing that we can do as consumers, and that is be aware of where our natural resources come from.” Bleasdale traces how the West’s consumer appetites have led to sub-human conditions for the Congolese people, and he  suggests that we might make a difference simply by asking where the diamonds and gold in the jewelry we purchase originates. “There is always a hope that the future will be better,” he says. “A better-educated population leads to better questions, and a better questioning population leads to a better government.”

In conjunction with this exhibition, Anastasia Photo will give funds to the St Kizito Orphanage in Bunia, Congo.