Experience CONTACT’s 30th Anniversary, taking place from May 1 – 31, 2026 throughout greater Toronto. Visit contactphoto.com for full programming information.

Thandiwe Muriu, An Abundance of Plenty, 2025. Courtesy of the artist and 193 Gallery.

Thandiwe Muriu: An Abundance of Plenty
460 King Street, April 24 – May 31
Curated by Joséphine Denis

“Return to old watering holes for more than water; friends and dreams are there to meet you” – African Proverb. One of life’s purest joys is the gift of earnest companionship between true friends. Friendship adorned by genuineness and honesty without any pretence. Words of truth spoken, whispers of vulnerability, and an unending compassion born from the unwavering desire to see the other come to full bloom. In this large-scale mural, An Abundance of Plenty references classical Renaissance portraits while praising the sisterhood between two women, which allows each to become the best of herself. Presented by CONTACT and BAND Gallery.

Sheida Soleimani: Ghostwriter
Billboards on Clark Dr, Vancouver, March 21 – May 31
Billboards on Dundas St W and Rusholme Rd, April 27 – May 24
Curated by Emmy Lee Wall

Iranian-American artist, educator, and activist Sheida Soleimani constructs detailed compositions that marry photographs, props, found objects, live animals, and people to create dream-like montages. Deliberately combining her familial history with the political, Soleimani’s practice considers her cultural inheritance, the environment, and migration. Presented by Capture Photography Festival and CONTACT, supported by Pattison Outdoor Advertising.

Delali Cofie: Independence Square II
Billboard at Queen St W & Augusta Ave, April 27 – May 24
Curated by Emilie Croning

In tandem with his solo exhibition A Place of Ours at United Contemporary, Ghanaian-Nigerian photographer Delali Cofie presents a black-and-white photograph set against the visual landscape of the city. The fleeting moment Cofie captured is transformed into a monumental public image, inviting passersby into a scene drawn from everyday life in Accra, Ghana. Presented by CONTACT, supported by Pattison Outdoor Advertising.

Bo Wang and Lu Pan, Replicas of Contact, Photo and Painting Collage in B&W/Color, 2026. Photo source: Public Domain. Courtesy of the artists

Bo Wang & Lu Pan: Replicas of Contact
Billboards at Dufferin St and Queen St, April 27 – May 24
Curated by Su-Ying Lee

This public artwork by collaborators Bo Wang (China/Amsterdam) and Lu Pan (Hong Kong) reaches across time, space, and histories of image-making. Juxtaposed on two double-sided billboards, archival photographs respectively depict a Canadian and a Chinese painter engaged in their craft. In a compelling intervention, Wang and Pan replace the paintings pictured within the images with works from the “opposing” artist’s milieu, generating a layered dialogue between past and present. Presented by CONTACT, supported by Pattison Outdoor Advertising

Sin Wai Kin: CLOSER THAN IT’S EVER BEEN
College and Delaware Billboards + Sankofa Square, April 28 – May 24
Curated by Kelly Lui

Taking form as an advertising campaign, Essence promotes a new men’s fragrance of the same name. Wai King is the cologne’s brand ambassador, a hero seeking for “something you can’t see” but possibly something he can already feel with a slogan promising “Your true self awaits.” Presented by CONTACT Photography Festival and Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival. Supported by Sankofa Square and Pattison Outdoor Advertising.

Yann Pocreau, A Light Kiss, 2026. Courtesy of Blouin Division

Yann Pocreau: A Light Kiss
650 Dupont St (south windows), May 1 – August 31
Curated by Tara Smith

Inspired by 35mm slides and by light and colour, Yann Pocreau’s work reimagines found images through interventions that probe photography’s complex connections to memory, time, and place. Presented by CONTACT in partnership with Choice Properties.

April Hickox: Vantage Point–Passing
Onsite Gallery, Exterior Windows, May 1 – August 29
Curated by Ursula Handleigh and Meera Margaret Singh

April Hickox’s practice reflected her deep dedication to the environment, land stewardship, and the climate crisis. Rooted in a life spent living and working on the Toronto Islands, her work foregrounds the ways humans intervene within environmental landscapes and shape our relationships to natural elements. Presented by Onsite Gallery.

Tim Georgeson: Kupa Piti / White Man in a Hole
Billboards at College and Clinton Streets, May 1 – 24
Curated by Lucie Černá

In the heart of the South Australian outback lies Coober Pedy, the surreal “opal capital of the world” and subject of this billboard installation and the forthcoming book by Australian photographer Tim Georgeson. Presented by CONTACT, supported by the Australian High Commission in Canada, and Pattison Outdoor Advertising.

Hassan Hajjaj, Orthodox, from the series La Salle de Gym des Femmes Arabes, 2011/1432. Courtesy of Hassan Hajjaj Studio

Hassan Hajjaj: La Salle de Gym des Femmes Arab (The Arab Women’s Gym)
Aga Khan Park, on view now until September 7
Curated by Marianne Fenton

Women in niqabs take centre stage against the backdrop of the gym—a space that, especially in the Arab world, has largely been male-dominated. Hassan Hajjaj’s images deftly undermine stereotypes and subvert Western views, featuring strong, empowered women unapologetically claiming space in a masculine world, and having fun doing it. Presented by the Aga Khan Museum.

Leala Hewak: HEADQUARTERS
Bay Subway Station, May 1 – 31

Curated by Laura Lehming, Christine Harron, and Hayley Waldman, in collaboration with the artist HEADQUARTERS is a portrait of a fading Modernist workplace, built in an era when no one worked from home. The images feature a Mad Men-era executive, the eternal “Chairman” and a ghostly stand-in for the ubiquitous bureaucrat. Presented by the TTC.

Risa Horowitz: The Alton Mill Dam
PAMA façade, May 1 – October 15
Curated by Michelle Gewurtz

Made with a handmade camera at Alton Mill Arts Centre—once the Beaver Knitting Mill, built in 1881—this direct-positive pinhole photograph centres on the concrete dam where Shaw’s Creek was engineered to drive what became the longest-running water-powered mill on the upper Credit River system. Presented by Peel Art Gallery, Museum & Archives.

Bike Tour
Saturday, May 23, 12:30pm (weather permitting)
Starting at 650 Dupont Street, Toronto

Join CONTACT staff and curators for a bike tour of the public installations in the downtown area, ending outside the CONTACT Gallery at 2pm.

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 charitable 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.