Public Opening Party
Tuesday, September 12, 2023
7:30–9:30pm

The Image Centre
33 Gould St., Toronto

Celebrate the launch of four exciting new exhibitions at The Image Centre’s fall 2023 opening party on Tuesday, September 12, 7:30–9:30 pm.

Be among the first to take in the much-anticipated Stories from the Picture Press, which chronicles the 20th century through the eyes of photojournalists and photo agencies; delve into Louie Palu’s photographs of life in the mining communities of Ontario and Quebec in Cage Call; experience the haunting story of one soldier’s participation in the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Japan, in Su Rynard’s two-channel video As Soon As Weather Will Permit; and contemplate Bahar Kamali’s juxtaposition of family snapshots with images from a popular 1950s Iranian women’s magazine in Banovan.

Free and open to the public – all are welcome! Light refreshments and cash bar available. Please let us know if we can make any accommodations to ensure your inclusion in this event.

Left: Griffith J. “Griff” Davis, Untitled [Children parading, Liberia] (detail), 1950, gelatin silver print. The Black Star Collection, The Image Centre; Right: Francis Fuerst, Untitled [Unidentified airplanes, Europe] (detail), ca. 1914, gelatin silver print. The Black Star Collection, The Image Centre

Stories from the Picture Press: Black Star Publishing Co. & The Canadian Press

September 13, 2023 – April 6, 2024
(Holiday Closure: December­ 10, 2023–January 16, 2024)
Main Gallery
Curators: Paul Roth, Gaëlle Morel and Rachel Verbin

Featuring more than thirty-five stories about historic events and personalities, this exhibition explores the important role of photo agencies during the heyday of print photojournalism. Drawing from The Image Centre’s famous Black Star press photography collection as well as the archive of Canada’s national news agency, The Canadian Press, the selection spans the twentieth century—from the British movement for women’s right to vote, through the Watts riots in Los Angeles, to the Oka Crisis in Quebec. Each story illuminates a different aspect of how photojournalists have worked to document the news and distribute their photographs for publication.

Media Sponsors: The Toronto Star and blogTO

Left: Louie Palu, Shaft miner at the 2500-foot level station before drilling, Louvicourt Mine, Val d’Or, Quebec (detail), from the series Cage Call, 1994 (printed 2005), gelatin silver print © Louie Palu, courtesy of Stephen Bulger Gallery; ​​Right: Louie Palu, Miners entering the cage on surface for the beginning of day shift, Kerr Mine no. 3 shaft, Virginiatown, Ontario (detail), from the series Cage Call, 1993 (printed 2005), gelatin silver print © Louie Palu, courtesy of Stephen Bulger Gallery

Louie Palu: Cage Call

September 13 – December 9, 2023
University Gallery
Curator: Gaëlle Morel

Between 1991 and 2003, Canadian documentary photographer Louie Palu established himself in the mining communities of Northeastern Ontario and Northwestern Quebec. Over time he accumulated an extensive, in-depth body of work that reveals the living and working conditions of the miners, while also capturing the formidable industrial architecture of the pits. Cage Call gathers together more than fifty black-and-white photographs and ephemera from Palu’s visual archive of this central but often overlooked and misunderstood aspect of Canada’s industrial culture.

Su Rynard, As Soon As Weather Will Permit (still), 2014, two-channel video. Courtesy of V/Tape and Paul Petro Contemporary Art

Su Rynard: As Soon As Weather Will Permit

September 13 – December 9, 2023
Salah J. Bachir New Media Wall
Guest Curator: Alexandra Gooding

Artist Su Rynard’s correspondence with her uncle, Vernon Rowley, inspired As Soon As Weather Will Permit—the haunting and disquieting story of one soldier’s participation in the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Japan, on August 6, 1945. This two-channel video combines their verbal and written exchanges with family archives, historical footage evoking nuclear warfare, and stark landscapes of the Utah airfield and bombing range where Air Force radar operator Rowley trained for the atomic mission by the US government. Threading these disparate audiovisual elements together, Rynard reconciles one person’s conflicted recollection with the collective memory of a dramatic and violent historic event.

The artist gratefully acknowledges the support of the Canada Council for the Arts.

Bahar Kamali: Banovan

September 13 – October 21, 2023
Student Gallery

Banovan is a photo-based project produced in 2020 that examines the role of photography in how we understand and make personal, familial, and collective memories. Originating in the artist’s desire to connect with an inaccessible family history in Iran, the project employs found family snapshots and combines them with images from a popular Iranian women’s magazine published in the 1950s. Layering and juxtaposing the female subjects pictured in the family photographs and on the magazine’s pages, the interventions create a collision of meanings where personal and sociopolitical narratives intersect. The project also addresses the complicated relationships between familial, cultural, and historical contexts that have influenced women’s lives in Iran.

Public Programs

Fall Exhibitions Opening Party
Tuesday, September 12, 2023 | 7:30-9:30 pm

Artist Talk—Louie Palu: Cage Call
Wednesday, October 4, 2023 | 7 pm
Online via Zoom ­– Register Now

Facing Black Star Book Launch
Tuesday, October 17, 2023 | 6–8 pm
The Image Centre and Online via Zoom

Noon Time Collections Talk: Christopher Varley
Thursday, October 26, 2023 | 12 pm
Peter Higdon Research Centre

Student Gallery Opening Reception—Hannah Somers: The Music Sang ‘Lean on Me’
Wednesday, November 1, 2023 | 6–8 pm

Special Exhibition Tour: Stories from the Picture Press
Wednesday, November 15, 2023 | 6 pm
Rachel Verbin & Paul Roth

Special Exhibition Tour: Stories from the Picture Press
Wednesday, November 29, 2023 | 6 pm
Rachel Verbin & Gaëlle Morel

All events take place at The Image Centre (33 Gould St., Toronto) unless otherwise noted.

The Image Centre
33 Gould Street
Toronto, Ontario M5B 1W1
416-979-5164
imagecentre.gallery@torontomu.ca

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Gallery Hours
Wednesday: 12–8 pm
Thursday–Saturday: 12–6 pm
Sunday–Tuesday: Closed

Free Exhibition Tours
Tuesday: By appointment
Wednesday–Friday: 1:30 pm, drop-in

Admission is always free

The Image Centre is wheelchair accessible. Please contact us if we can make any accommodations to ensure your inclusion in our exhibitions and events.