Wednesday in the galleries: Contact Photography Festival
Even found a few projects that are not about race and 'decolonization'
CONTACT Photography Festival is in full swing. (Scotiabank, as the main sponsor, demanded naming rights and received them, but I just can’t call this festival Scotiabank Contact any more than I can call Tiff movie theatres - Tiff Bell Lightbox. Giller Prize is also Scotiabank Giller, and Nuit Blanche - Scotiabank Nuit Blanche. Yeah, no.)
There is however so much on offer this year that a visit to the website and one look at the map of venues is sure to overwhelm. The best one can do is pick up one of those excellent catalogues that they print each year — any participating gallery would have them — and plan that way. Today I tackled the 401 Richmond and The Image Centre at the TMU/Former Ryerson only, but have worked out a plan for the rest. Watch this space.
Red Head Gallery in 401 Richmond is showing Matthew Borrett’s work this month, which brings us digitally altered photos of some recognizable Toronto landmarks in a post-climate-catastrophe mode. It’s the CN Tower under desert storms, tropical forests taking over Harbourfront condo buildings, and boats docked all over the financial district. The gallery has made a few hyperrealist-looking postcards of Borrett’s Toronto available and those are free (to mail to your most gullible friend abroad).
