Rosa Gauditano, spread from A mesma luta, 2021. Published by Studio R, São Paulo, Brazil

Two Reading Room Exhibitions Open May 1 at CONTACT Gallery

Part of CONTACT’s 29th edition, two reading room exhibitions—Flashpoint! Protest Photography in Print and What Makes a Photobook Sustainable?—present over 100 photobooks, zines, newsletters, and posters from around the world, showcasing the power of photography to document and exert social change, and offering resources to create book projects in ethical and environmentally-friendly ways.

10×10 Photobooks
Flashpoint! Protest Photography In Print

May 1 – June 21, 2025
CONTACT Gallery, 80 Spadina Ave, Suite 205, Toronto

Reception: Thursday, May 1, 6 – 9pm
Russet Lederman (co-founder, 10×10 Photobooks) and Kerry Manders (Flashpoint! contributing essayist) in attendance

10×10 Photobooks is a New York City-based non-profit organization with the mission to foster engagement with the global photobook community through an appreciation, dissemination, and understanding of photobooks. Based on their 2024 anthology Flashpoint! Protest Photography in Print, 1950–Present, this reading room exhibition showcases a selection of more than 90 photobooks, zines, posters, pamphlets, independent journals, and alternative newspapers addressing protest and resistance, and highlighting photography’s critical role within it.

Co-presented by CONTACT and 10×10 Photobooks. Curated by Russet Lederman and Olga Yatskevich. Supported by Cindy & Shon Barnett and Dara & Marvin Singer

Kate Schneider, How to Understand a Rock, 2023

Sustainable Photobook Publishing Network
What Makes a Photobook Sustainable?

May 1 – 10, 2025
CONTACT Photobook Lab, 80 Spadina Ave, Suite 205, Toronto

Reception: Thursday, May 1, 6 – 9pm
Tamsin Green (SPPnetwork founder) in attendance

Based on the publication of the same name, What Makes a Photobook Sustainable? is a reading room exhibition inciting conversation on how photography books are made and circulated. This reading room presents more than 20 books illustrative of the Sustainable Photobook Publishing (SPP) network as a global platform, illuminating how photographers and publishers worldwide are navigating sustainability solutions, ethical social practices, and decolonial initiatives, and, critically, also features a special section highlighting local approaches to these concerns.

Co-presented by CONTACT and the Sustainable Photobook Publishing network. Supported by Cindy & Shon Barnett and Dara & Marvin Singer

Complementing the exhibition is the two-day workshop:

Developing Ecological Photobooks
May 5 – 6, 10am – 5pm
Public Lecture: Tuesday, May 6, 6pm
CONTACT Photobook Lab, 80 Spadina Ave, Suite 205, Toronto

For more details and to register please visit the website.

The Photobook Lab, CONTACT’s year-round shop, reading room, and meeting place, presents an expanded program in 2025 for photobook makers, collectors, and enthusiasts, including the fourth annual CONTACT Photobook Fair.

CONTACT Photography Festival
80 Spadina Ave, Suite 205
Toronto, ON M5V 2J4
416 539 9595
info@contactphoto.com
contactphoto.com | @contactphoto

CONTACT Photography Festival is a Toronto-based non-profit organization dedicated to exhibiting, analyzing, and celebrating lens-based media, rooted in an annual festival that takes place throughout the month of May and beyond.

CONTACT is generously supported by major sponsors BMO and Power Corporation of Canada, and sponsors 3M Canada, Beyond Digital Imaging, BIG Digital, Four By Eight Signs, Pattison Outdoor Advertising, Toronto Image Works, The Gilder, Transcontinental PLM, and Waddington’s Auctioneers and Appraisers.

CONTACT gratefully acknowledges the support of Canada Council for the Arts; Ontario Arts Council; Toronto Arts Council; The City of Toronto; Destination Toronto; The Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Gaming through the Experience Ontario Grant; The Ontario Cultural Attractions Fund: La Fondation Emmanuelle Gattuso; and all funders, donors, and program partners.