Not so pretty as a picture?

Photographers have traditionally guarded their negatives with their lives, carefully filing or archiving them - often in air-tight environments. But Penetration, a new exhibition at Foley Gallery in New York until March 3, brings together the work of four photographers who destroy, interfere or otherwise compromise the integrity of once considered precious negative or paper. Danielle Durchslag, Joseph Heidecker, Marco Breuer and Jowhara AlSaud each scratch, puncture, paint or sew onto their images. And while they disregard the original image at the same time the new image they make wouldn't exist without it.

Danielle Durchslag creates layered mosaic collages out of cut paper to re-create photographs of long forgotten family members. Acknowledging their insignificance by covering them with layers of paper, the New York-based artist seeks to elevate the original photographs from anonymous objects to meaningful and precious artefacts.

Danielle Durchslag, Relative Unknown 1 (2010) (left) and Relative Unknown 2 (2010)

Although Jowhara AlSaud's images are derived from photographs, they bear more resemblance to a pop art painting as the figures are greatly simplified with bright pops of colour punctuating the paper. AlSaud's figures however, are missing their faces in an attempt to draw attention to the Saudi Arabian practice of censoring imagery deemed unsuitable for viewing. The Saudi Arabian born artist draws upon everyday experiences of her family and friends and then etches them onto negatives to produce the final image.

Jowhara AlSaud, Cocotte (2010)

The photographer who alters his starting material in perhaps the most three-dimensional way is Joseph Heidecker who adorns each image with beads and sewing thread. The figures in his photographs wear theatrical masks and the sometimes humorous additions attempt to make us think about how we present ourselves and how we construct identities in a digital world.

Joseph Heidecker, Frank Thomas (2006) (left) and Bolton (2006) (right)

One photographer who stands aside from the others in the exhibition is Marco Breuer as he is not reliant on images which have already been created to feed his work. Instead, the German photographer makes scratches and scrapes on light sensitive paper, producing abstract images.

Marco Breuer, Drag (C-1076) (2011) (left)and Untitled (C-690) (2007) (right)

Whether masking parts of existing photographs, recreating them or making entirely new ones the exhibition questions the importance of preserving a negative, or printed photograph. A comforting thought to keep in mind if you're a resolutely non-digital photographer who perhaps hasn't been following the advice here.