CONTACT Photo Festival

Toronto’s preeminent, annual, month-long festival presents an outstanding roster of North American and international lens-based artists, and exciting new initiatives in 2024.

Overview

Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival announced highlights of the 28th edition of its annual citywide event spanning the month of May 2024. Established and emerging artists will present lens-based works in exhibitions, public art installations, and commissioned projects at museums, galleries, and public spaces across Toronto. The 2024 Core Exhibitions and Public Art Installations present lens-based and mixed-media works by artists and photographers exploring topics including anti-colonial practices, community-building, Afro-futurism, crip liberation, ceremony and revolution, and personal and collective memory, addressing violent gaps in historical archives. Alanna Fields, Kiri Dalena, Nuits Balnéaires, Julianna A.S., Delali Cofie, Kourtney Jackson, Jane Jin Kaisen, Ken Lum, Felicia Byron, Umber Majeed are among the exhibiting authors.

In addition to highlighting the expansive slate of artists showing in this year’s Festival, CONTACT is pleased to announce preliminary details about ongoing and new programming initiatives such as The Photobook Lab that will feature a roster of programs and new photobooks on the shelves, the Sustenance Artist Mentorship Residency which will extend the Festival's support of lens-based artists living in the Greater Toronto Area, and the Constellation Public Art Guest Curator Program with the aim of inviting local and international curators to program public art installations as part of the Festival. This program decentralizes the Festival's curatorial role, allowing for a plurality of voices, perspectives, and communities to take shape and hold space throughout the city.

Participating curators featured in the 2024 Festival include Shannon Anderson, Jutta Brendemühl, Noa Bronstein, Laura Carusi, Anthony Cooper, Mariah Coulibaly, Frances Dorenbaum, Marina Dumont-Gauthier, Francesca Ekwuyasi, Chris Finn, Carla Garnet, Timothy Yanick Hunter, Karina Iskandarsjah, Aaron Jones, Bryce Julien, Parker Kay, Luther Konadu, Andrea Kunard, Su-Ying Lee, Scott McLeod, Gaëlle Morel, Vicky Moufawad-Paul, Aamna Muzaffar, Philip Leonard Ocampo, Shuraine Otto-Olak, Sarah Parsons, Danica Pinteric, Alex Rand, Ryan Rice, Mark Sealy, Paul Seesequasis, Emmy Lee Wall, and Kate Whiteway.