TORONTO.- Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival opened the 27th edition of the annual citywide event spanning May 2023. As part of this year’s Core Program, artists present lens-based works in exhibitions, site-specific installations, and commissioned projects at museums, galleries, and public spaces across Toronto. Among these are CONTACT’s critically acclaimed Outdoor Installations—a central component of the Festival’s program. This year CONTACT welcomes several guest curators activating 21 sites across the city. The Festival runs April 28 – May 31, 2023, and is free and open to the public.
Among the almost 100 artists, documentary photographers, and photojournalists featured across the Core Program of gallery exhibitions and outdoor installations are: Farah Al Qasimi, Joi T. Arcand, Hélène Amouzou, Nabil Azab, Genesis Báez, Ursula Biemann, Catherine Blackburn, Mary Bunch, Jawa El Khash, Lindsey french, Karina Griffith, Maggie Groat, Grace Grothaus, Maïmouna Guerresi, Aziz Hazara, Robert Kautuk, Jake Kimble, Seif Kousmate, Nadya Kwandibens, Long Time no See, Meryl McMaster, Suzanne Morrissette, Joel Ong, Abdi Osman, Sarah Palmer, Celeste Pedri-Spade, Racquel Rowe, Wayne Salmon, Serapis, Rasa Smite & Raitis Smits, Sunday School, Wolfgang Tillmans, Jane Tingley, Dolleen Tisawii’ashii Manning and Jin-me Yoon.
“CONTACT is delighted to present an exciting roster of artists for this year’s Festival who bring insights and observations on myriad local and global cultural, political, and environmental issues,” said CONTACT Executive Director Tara Smith. “The entire CONTACT team is honoured to have such an impressive range of works on view, and we thank our many partners and supporters for making this possible.”
In addition to the Core Program are the Festival’s Open Call Exhibitions, presenting a range of works by artists at galleries and alternative spaces across the city. This year there are over 330 artists in more than 115 Open Call Exhibitions in the metro area.
CONTACT also organizes and co-presents a wide range of Public Programs including a photobook fair, photobook dummy reviews, lectures, panels, and workshops open to a wide audience.
Highlights of the 2023 Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival include the following:
Maggie Groat | DOUBLE PENDULUM
CONTACT Gallery | 80 Spadina Ave, Ste 205 | May 6 – June 17
Harbourfront Centre Parking Pavilion | 235 Queens Quay W | May 1 – 31
Billboards | Dovercourt Rd and Dupont St | May 1 – June 2
Curated by Tara Smith
Opening reception (CONTACT Gallery): Friday, May 5, 6–9pm
Presented across three sites—at CONTACT Gallery, on billboards, and in an outdoor installation at Harbourfront Centre—newly commissioned work by artist Maggie Groat implements a collage-based approach in installation, sculpture, and image. Her practice investigates decolonial ways of being, alternative archiving, sustainable exhibition making, and the transformative potential of salvaged materials during times of living through climate emergencies. Presented by CONTACT. Exhibition supported by Cindy and Shon Barnett. Outdoor Installation presented in partnership with Harbourfront Centre. Billboards supported by PATTISON Outdoor Advertising.
Sunday School | Feels Like Home
Art Gallery of Ontario | 317 Dundas St W | May 6, 2023 – May 2024 | Curated by Emilie Croning
Billboards, Lansdowne & Dundas | May 1 – June 2 | Curated by Emilie Croning & Sunday School
Opening reception (AGO): Friday, May 5, 6–9pm
Sunday School is a creative agency bringing together photographers, videographers, stylists, and models from across Africa and the diaspora to create compelling visual stories. This two-part presentation—an exhibition at the Art Gallery of Ontario and selected billboards in Toronto—will be Sunday School’s first major display in the city. The presentations celebrate the agency’s collaborative ethos and the ways in which they are pushing the boundaries of storytelling, shedding light on notions of identity, fashion, and culture at the intersection of art and education. Presented by the Art Gallery of Ontario in partnership with CONTACT. Billboard presentation supported by PATTISON Outdoor Advertising
Joi T. Arcand, Catherine Blackburn, Nadya Kwandibens, Celeste Pedri-Spade | Materialized
Critical Distance Centre for Curators | 401 Richmond St, Ste S-122 | April 21 – June 3
Billboard at Artscape Youngplace | 180 Shaw St | April 21 – June 3
Curated by Ariel Smith
A co-presentation by Native Women in the Arts and Critical Distance Centre for Curators, this exhibition presents work by Joi T. Arcand, Catherine Blackburn, Nadya Kwandibens, and Celeste Pedri-Spade, each of whom utilizes photography combined with textiles, adornment arts, and customary practices to examine themes of intergenerational memory, familial narrative, and decolonization. Co-presented by Native Women in the Arts and Critical Distance Centre for Curators, in partnership with CONTACT
Jake Kimble | Grow Up #1
Mural, 460 King St W, north façade | May 1 – June 30
Curated by Emmy Lee Wall, Capture Photography Festival
Jake Kimble’s practice combines humour and pathos in vulnerable, self-reflective images often featuring the artist engaged in acts of self-repair. The work reflects his experience growing up in a chaotic household in which he felt the burden of adult responsibility. In Grow Up #1 he wears a cowboy hat, complicating his identity as a Chipewyan (Dëne Sųłıné) child from Treaty 8 territory in the Northwest Territories, and subverting traditional dichotomies of “cowboys and Indians” and “parent and child” by playing both roles simultaneously. Presented by CONTACT in partnership with Capture Photography Festival.
Robert Kautuk | Up Front: Inuit Public Art at Onsite Gallery
Onsite Gallery | 199 Richmond St W (exterior) | April 1 – August 31 | Curated by Ryan Rice
The Inuit Art Foundation and Onsite Gallery present Up Front: Inuit Public Art at Onsite Gallery, a new series of commissioned digital murals by Inuit artists. In this iteration, aerial photography by Robert Kautuk animates the gallery’s façade, bringing his unique vision to downtown Toronto. Presented by Onsite Gallery in partnership with the Inuit Art Foundation and CONTACT
Group exhibition | more-than-human
Onsite Gallery | 199 Richmond St W | through May 13 | Curated by Jane Tingley
Artists: Ursula Biemann, Mary Bunch, Lindsey french, Grace Grothaus, Suzanne Morissette, Joel Ong, Rasa Smite & Raitis Smits, Jane Tingley with Faadhi Fauzi & Ilze (Kavi) Briede, Dolleen Tisawii'ashii Manning
more-than-human features ten contemporary Canadian and international artists using interactive and experiential digital media to challenge, excite, and shift our collective understanding of the more-than-human mind. Inspired by an ethic of inclusion that acknowledges the rights of nature through stewardship and care, the exhibition questions what it means to be alive and have agency, bringing together artists, Indigenous leaders, scholars, technologists, and scientists to build connections across diverse knowledge fields. Presented by Onsite Gallery in partnership with CONTACT
Wolfgang Tillmans | To look without fear
Art Gallery of Ontario | 317 Dundas St W | April 7 – October 1
The artist’s first major retrospective in Canada showcases the scope of his practice, comprising everything from intimate observations to incisive commentary on the shape of our world today. The exhibition features ecstatic images of nightlife, sensitive portraits, architectural studies, documents of social movements, still lifes, astronomical phenomena, and camera-less abstractions. The exhibition reveals the full breadth of Tillmans’ creative output to date, with photographs, video projections, sound installations, and his ongoing project Truth Study Center on display. Organized at the AGO by Sophie Hackett with Marina Dumont-Gauthier. Developed by Roxana Marcoci at The Museum of Modern Art with Caitlin Ryan and Phil Taylor.
Farah Al Qasimi | Night Swimming
Davisville Subway Station platform | Davisville Ave at Yonge St, along platform
May 1 – June 2 | Curated by Sara Knelman
Working between the United Arab Emirates and New York, Lebanese American artist Farah Al Qasimi finds her vibrant, collage-like compositions in the international cityscapes around her or creates them in-studio. The images in Night Swimming show fragments of shop displays, luxury interiors, and street life, weaving together the complexities of cultural identity, gender roles, and consumer culture. Presented by CONTACT. Supported by PATTISON Outdoor Advertising
Writing Without Words: The Autoportraits of Hélène Amouzou
Metro Hall | Structure along King St W at John St | May 1 – 31 | Curated by Mark Sealy
Togolese-Belgian photographer Hélène Amouzou creates distinctive imagery through long exposures, generating photographic apparitions that speak to issues of displacement and exile. The 13 haunting, larger-than-life images in this outdoor installation reveal the deepest parts of the artist herself and evoke the spectre of people forced to migrate across the globe. Presented by CONTACT in partnership with Autograph London and University Arts London, and the City of Toronto
Aziz Hazara | Bow Echo
Mercer Union, a centre for contemporary art 1286 Bloor St W | May 6 – July 22
Curated by Nasrin Himada
Opening reception: Friday, May 5, 7–10pm
For his first solo exhibition in Canada, Berlin-based Aziz Hazara offers a deep engagement with geopolitics, particularly the enduring destabilization and strife afflicting his home of Afghanistan. In Bow Echo (2019), five boys are seen braving harsh winds to climb atop a large rock from which they ceremonially sound a kazoo—a small gesture that hopes to carry an urgent message in their community’s plight against repression and violence. Presented by Mercer Union in partnership with CONTACT
Seif Kousmate | Waha (Oasis)
Billboards at King St W & Strachan Avenue | May 1 – June 2 | Curated by Gaëlle Morel
Waha (“oasis” in Arabic) is Moroccan artist Seif Kousmate’s photographic essay exploring the consequences of climate change and rural exodus on the oasis ecosystem in Morocco. For centuries, Morocco’s oases have been home to human settlements, agriculture, and important economic, architectural, and cultural heritage. Today, two thirds of the country’s oasis habitat has vanished—a process accelerated by environmental changes. Presented by CONTACT. Supported by PATTISON Outdoor Advertising
Long Time No See | LONGING BELONGING * 100 YEARS 100 STORIES
Varley Art Gallery of Markham | 216 Main St, Unionville, Markham | May 13 – September 3 Curated by Anik Glaude
Opening reception: Saturday, May 13, 2–4pm
The Long Time No See collective (Emily Chan, Richard Fung, Kwoi Gin, Brenda Joy Lem, Keith Lock, Morris Lum, Maylynn Quan, Amy Shuang Wang, Rick Wong, Sandy Yep, Shellie Zhang) tackles Canada's colonialist history in this exhibition marking the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Exclusion Act. Presenting images and stories gathered from Markham community members in spaces that elicit “belonging,” this project asks: What is our place on this land? What is remembered? What is forgotten? What is our role in reconciliation? How do we all belong? Presented by Varley Art Gallery of Markham in partnership with CONTACT. Funded in part by the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, the Varley-McKay Art Foundation of Markham, and the City of Markham
Jin-me Yoon | Scotiabank Photography Award
The Image Centre | 33 Gould St | Main Gallery | April 29 – August 5 | Curated by Gaëlle Morel
Opening reception: Friday, April 28, 7–10pm (Festival Launch)
Korean-born, Vancouver-based Jin-me Yoon critically reflects upon the construction of national and diasporic identities in relation to her personal experience and broader geopolitical contexts. Winner of the 2022 Scotiabank Photography Award, Yoon repurposes visual stereotypes and dominant narratives to explore gender, culture, and citizenship in an accelerated, globalized era. Yoon’s work also reframes viewers’ understanding of some of the most pressing issues today, including the impacts of colonialism, militarization, displacement, and environmental devastation. Organized by The Image Centre, presented by Scotiabank, in partnership with CONTACT
Group Exhibition | Black(Cite)
Gallery TPW | 170 St. Helens Ave | April 20 – June 24 | Curated by Rinaldo Walcott
Artists: Karina Griffith, Abdi Osman, Racquel Rowe, Wayne Salmon
Exemplifying Black aesthetic traditions of artmaking in documentary, collage, and abstract practices, the artists in Black(Cite) employ poetic meditation on the sea and water, documentation of everyday Black life, performing Black living, and commenting on sexuality and gender. The exhibition places these Canadian artists’ work in dialogue with broader diasporic conversations, while calling to mind the work of Black artists in the art-historical canon.
Group Exhibition | Joy. Sorrow. Anger. Love. PRIDE.
Collison Gallery | 30 Wellington St W Unit G114
June 1 – July 2 | Curated by The Magenta Foundation and the Joy. Sorrow. Anger. Love. PRIDE Curatorial Team
Opening reception: Thursday, June 1, 7–10pm
Joy. Sorrow. Anger. Love. PRIDE. is Toronto Pride’s first exhibition and publication, to be launched in conjunction with the 50th anniversary of The ArQuives—Canada’s only national LGBTQ2+ archive. The exhibition and publication will feature archival photographs, print media, and ephemera selected from among the ArQuives’ holdings and from a public call for submissions. Focused on Toronto Pride from 1970 to the present day, this comprehensive research project will kick off the 2023 Pride Season. Presented by the Magenta Foundation in partnership with The ArQuives and CONTACT.
