Ten must-see shows at the Contact Photography Festival

Milton H. Greene snapped iconic images of Marilyn Monroe, Ava Gardner and Jane Fonda, who posed at her beachfront Malibu home. She was promoting Cat Ballou for Marie Claire magazine. May 6 to June 30, 18 Watt.

 

This image, by Ghanaian photographer James Barnor, appeared in the Johannesburg magazine Drum, the first black lifestyle publication in Africa. April 20 to May 29, BAND Gallery.

 

New York artist Jill Greenberg masquerades photos as paintings. Her method involves painting abstracts in oil and acrylic, shooting them, destroying them, and printing the shots back onto fresh canvases. May 1 to 31, Bau-Xi Photo.

 

Karen Seltenrich was a server and booker at the San Francisco club the Matrix, and a Jefferson Airplane groupie. Baron Wolman shot her and a few other California fangirls for Rolling Stone in 1969 (she got the cover). May 1 to 31, Charlotte Hale and Associates.

 

In the mid-1960s, Joel Meyerowitz became one of the first artists to shoot with colour film. One of his most famous series is a collection of shimmering idylls on Cape Cod, many of which look straight out of Gidget. May 7 to June 18, Stephen Bulger Gallery.

 

This ghostly double portrait shows the photographer Meryl McMaster with an image of an early-20th-century Cheyenne woman superimposed onto her face. May 16 to June 19, Art Gallery of Mississauga.

 

After the Tōhoku tsunami in 2011, Quebec photographer Michel Huneault travelled to Japan to document the damage. This is a collapsed clothing store, still untouched 14 months after the disaster. May 5 to June 12, Le Labo.

 

A black plywood breakwater mimics the horizon in Ned Pratt’s serene snowy landscape, shot about 20 kilometres outside St. John’s, Newfoundland. April 28 to May 21, Nicholas Metivier Gallery.

 

Gonzo American photographer Danny Lyon spent four years riding around the country with the Chicago Outlaws motorcycle gang. His images are part of the AGO’s irreverent Outsiders exhibit. To May 29, Art Gallery of Ontario.

 

Photography becomes sculpture in Jessica Thalmann’s geometric works. Here, she printed an archival photo of a Concordia University lab building during a protest and folded it into a triangular tesselation pattern. May 5 to 22, Hashtag Gallery.

More photo essays

Culture

Ten historic snapshots of Drake, the Weeknd and WondaGurl from Toronto’s burgeoning hip-hop scene

Plus, the stories behind their early performances and studio sessions

City

Historical photos of Toronto’s pride parades over the years

Including images of the ’70s picnics on the Toronto islands

City

Here’s what a $1.25-billion urban regeneration project looks like

Ten photographs documenting the massive overhaul of the Port Lands