What to see at the Contact photo festival

We photographers deal in things which are continually vanishing, and when they have vanished there is no contrivance on earth can make them come back again. – Henri Cartier-Bresson

When the the world’s largest photography festival, Contact, starts on Sunday, the city will become a 641-square-kilometre art gallery showing hundreds of these “vanishing” moments.

Organizers have planned more than 200 exhibitions, workshops and films for the month of May, as well as public installations on billboards, in subways, and even at Pearson airport.

Photographers from Canada and around the world will display their surreal, revealing and often provocative images looking at the relationship between subjects and their environment – or “figure” and “ground” – the festival’s theme.

Here are some highlights.

Edward Burtynsky: Oil
The internationally-renowned Canadian artist explores the effects of oil extraction and our dependency on oil in 53 striking large-format photographs.
April 9–July 3
Royal Ontario Museum, 100 Queen’s Park

Guy Tillim: Avenue Patrice Lumumba
The South African photojournalist traces the legacy of colonialism in the architecture, landscape and people of such African countries as Mozambique, Angola and Congo.
April 20–June 14
Design Exchange, 234 Bay St.

Haruo Nakano: Isi Shrine Photo Exhibition
Nakano documents the Ise Jingu, the largest and most revered Shinto shrine in Japan, as its 100-plus buildings are dismantled and rebuilt – a process that has taken place every 20 years for more than 1,300 years.
March 15–June 30
Japan Foundation, 131 Bloor St. W.

Fred Herzog: Vancouver
In 1953, the German-born medical photographer began shooting Vancouver’s working class neighbourhoods and downtown core in his spare time. His vivid Kodachrome photos capture the postwar era when capitalism and consumer culture were taking hold.
April 30–June 5
Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art, 952 Queen St. W.

Robert Bourdeau: The Station Point
Taken over the past four decades throughout Europe and North America, these large-format photos uncover age-old landscapes, architectural gems nestled in the countryside, and inactive industrial sites reclaimed by nature.
May 5–June 11
Stephen Bulger Gallery, 1026 Queen St. W.

Magnum Photos Lectures
A rare opportunity to learn from the photographers of the prestigious Magnum Photos agency, whose members have captured some of the world’s most iconic images.
May 10, 11, 13, 7 p.m.
Ryerson University, Library Building, 350 Victoria St.

For the the full schedule, visit the Contact Photography Festival website.

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