Contact Photography Festival: 10 indelible images from the 2014 shows
Contact Photography Festival: 10 indelible images from the 2014 shows
By Simon Lewsen |
By Simon Lewsen |
By Simon Lewsen
The annual Contact Photography Festival, which runs at venues across the city throughout the month of May, features eye candy from more than 1,500 artists. Here, our favourite images from 10 can’t-miss shows.
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- Artist Adad Hannah riffs on John Everett Millais’ iconic Pre-Raphaelite painting. He shot it near Sarnia’s Chemical Valley, which makes you wonder: is Ophelia dying of heartache or water contamination? <em>May 3 to 31, Centre Space.</em>
- (Image: courtesy Pierre-François Ouellette Art Contemporain)
- 1. Blackwater Ophelia, 2013
- 1. Blackwater Ophelia, 2013
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- Cindy Sherman’s terrifying clown portrait is a highlight from In Character, an exhibition that features self-portraits of top-tier artists in all their ugly, goofy splendour. <em>May 1 to June 1, Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art.</em>
- (Image: courtesy National Gallery of Canada)
- 2. Untitled #411, 2003
- 2. Untitled #411, 2003
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- For her Broken Horizons series, artist Becky Comber travelled across Canada taking traditional nature photos, which she then cut up, rearranged by hand and re-shot as fanciful yet foreboding landscapes. <em>May 1 to 31, Gladstone Hotel.</em>
- 3. Banff Sky, 2013
- 3. Banff Sky, 2013
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- Since 2008, portraitist Rafael Goldchain has trained his lens on the natural world. The decaying tree trunks, knotted branches and frayed roots in his Beautifully Broken exhibit resemble sculpted nudes. <em>To May 19, Miles Nadal JCC. </em>
- (Image: copyright Rafael Goldchain)
- 4. Cracked Column, Toronto 2010
- 4. Cracked Column, Toronto 2010
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- The Breezy Hill trailer park in Pompano Beach, Florida, is a kitsch paradise of palm trees and plastic patio furniture. For his Snowbirds series, Quebec’s Mika Goodfriend shot the region and the sun-worn faces of the French-Canadian retirees who live there. <em>To May 24, Le Labo.</em>
- 5. Yvonne et Jean-Paul, 2012
- 5. Yvonne et Jean-Paul, 2012
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- Toronto-born artist Stacey Tyrell has produced a series of dynamic portraits that bring her imagined ancestors to life. The part-Caribbean, part-Scottish photographer dons costumes that evoke British gentility and privilege: private school uniforms, riding habits and whiteface makeup. <em>To May 17, General Hardware Contemporary.</em>
- (Image: from the series Backra Bluid)
- 6. Bonnie, 35 Yrs. and Twins Lara and Maisie, 9 Yrs., 2011
- 6. Bonnie, 35 Yrs. and Twins Lara and Maisie, 9 Yrs., 2011
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- Jessica Eaton’s photos look like digital collages, but her process is all analog: she shoots grey wooden cubes with colour gels, filters and varying exposures to create explosively vibrant images. <em>May 1 to 31, Jessica Bradley Gallery. </em>
- (Image: courtesy Jessica Eaton and Jessica Bradley Gallery)
- 7. Cfaal 397 (Homage to Tartan Ribbon), 2013
- 7. Cfaal 397 (Homage to Tartan Ribbon), 2013
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- The star of the group show Identity Constructed is French photographer Charles Fréger, who searches remote corners of Europe for the so-called Wild Men, costumed revellers who keep the continent’s pagan traditions alive. <em>May 1 to June 1, Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art.</em>
- (Image: inkjet print from the series Wilder Mann)
- 8. Cerbul (Stag), 2010–2011
- 8. Cerbul (Stag), 2010–2011
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- Over his long career, Gordon Parks shot celebrities for <em>Life</em> and fashion for <em>Vogue,</em> and directed the blaxploitation classic <em>Shaft.</em> This Contact retrospective highlights his photojournalism, which documents the cruelty of mid-century racial politics. <em>To May 24, Nicholas Metivier Gallery.</em>
- (Image: copyright the Gordon Parks Foundation, courtesy of The Gordon Parks Foundation)
- 9. Husband and Wife on Sunday Morning, Fort Scott, Kansas, 1949
- 9. Husband and Wife on Sunday Morning, Fort Scott, Kansas, 1949
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- In the 19th century, German missionaries in Deutsch-Südwestafrika (now Namibia) gave the local Herero people a taste for European finery. British photographer Jim Naughten shoots modern-day Herero women in flowing skirts and puffed sleeves as well as traditional cow horn headdresses. <em>May 1 to Aug. 18, Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art.</em>
- 10. Herero Women Marching, 2012
- 10. Herero Women Marching, 2012
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The mountainscape by Becky Comber is one of my favourites from the online photography gallery I founded called eyebuyart.com (I also used to be one of the Directors of CONTACT, and started the gallery to make art affordable and fun to buy!) You can find a link to this image by Becky Comber here: http://eyebuyart.com/becky-comber/banff-sky
Thanks for the post!
Emily McInnes
Founder and Director
EYEBUYART.COM