Making Contact across Toronto with award-winning photography

Contact Photography Festival runs for the month of May in outdoor and indoor venues all across the city.

By Sue Carter, Special to the Star

Mon., May 1, 2023

There isn’t an official theme to this year’s Scotiabank Contact Photography Festival, which kicked off Monday. With more than 180 public sites, both indoors and out, the month-long citywide celebration of photographic arts offers a wide survey of local and international talents.

Perhaps it’s the early whispers of swimming season or my deep concerns about the future of Toronto’s precious waterfront, but I couldn’t help but notice that many works featured this year are interrogating the role of water in our lives. One could also draw a line through photographic works that look at nature, community, identity or personal histories, which is one of the many pleasures of making your way through the annual fest. (Touring venues is also a fun way to get in those 10,000 daily steps.)

As you are making your list, here are 10 picks to consider for your own personal map.

“Severance,” Lynne Cohen, Olga Korper Gallery, until May 27

The late photographer Lynne Cohen, who died in 2014, built her name creating eerie images of institutional interiors, focusing on symmetries and repetitions in spaces. The absence of people makes her works seem familiar yet abandoned, an experience that feels even more pointed in our work-from-home offices.

Read the full list here

Featuring: Lynne Cohen, Corporate Office, 1976, gelatin silver print.