“Subcultures, by choice or by force, make for engaging, startling imagery.” In the case of the imagery at the newcomer Gallery I/D, that is an understatement from the current show. The photography here is not just startling, it grabs you at the throat and forces you to ingest. This is some powerful photo-journalistic work not to be missed.

“RISE: New Works by New Artists” features photographers who have captured the gritty, underground worlds not always visible to the rest of us (and many shot in black and white): Gamblers and prostitutes, transgendered, homeless youth, Filipino prisons. Or, from the lens of Julie Glassberg, New York City’s Bike Kill festival. Wearing masks and costumes, bikers joust and fight on their two-wheeled contraptions while audiences cheer and jeer. The series of black-and-white photos from Glassberg is the most impressive in the show, as the composition and framing is as compelling as the subject matter.

Jo Ann Santangelo also focuses on Manhattan, in particular the famed Christopher Street in the Village. In Walking the Block, she shoots a sub-genre that exists only well after dark, and on the dark edge of society. Says one of her subjects, “My motherf****** mother used to tell me, ‘Sell as much sex as you can when you’re young.”

An FIU student is also included in the show, Lindsay Dye, and as a consequence the imagery is Miami centric, in the party-school way. Sad, wasted faces of young girls at the end (or middle) of a long night at some nightclub — wasn’t this supposed to be endless fun, they seem to ask, instead of endless pain?

There are more images, from the transient population of New Haven to a crisis center for homeless gay, lesbian, and transgendered kids, to the caged world of Manila’s jails.

Absolutely gripping stuff. If this show is any indication, the gallery holds real promise to add more depth to the art scene of Wynwood. It would be great to see more of this calibre.

“RISE: New Works by New Artists” through July 7 at Gallery I/D, 2531 NW 2nd Avenue 305.753.2881;  www.galleryid.com.