Contact Photography Exhibit 2011

Every year in the month of May, the Contact photography exhibition places photographs of a given theme in public locations throughout Toronto.  This year the theme is "Figure and Ground", which explores " the shifting tensions between humanity and nature".  Photos can be found in public and private art galleries, restaurants, coffee shops, office buildings, open spaces.

Brookfield Place is displaying photographs by Alain Paiement called "Over Here, Over There"  The photos are of various rooms of a house and garage, but the perspective makes it seem as if someone climbed to the top of the house, cut off the roof and shot each room from above.  In keeping with this viewpoint, the large photos are displayed on the floor so that you need to look down on them.

Kinsman Robinson Gallery is showing Louie Palu's Fighting Season,  a series of photos depicting the war in Afghanistan including portraits of soldiers, images of troops in battle and wounded, Afghan children at play, arms and ammunition.  There were two eerie photos that stood out in my mind.  One was of a horse that had been blown up by a grenade so that only the skeletal remains were left. 

The other was of a wounded solider on a stretcher with his pant legs cut open.  The soldier is only shown from the chest down but the lighting, the positioning of his bare legs and the bunched up cloth of his pants resulted in an image reminiscent of Christ during his crucifixion

The Italian Consulate is displaying Giorgio Barrera’s Battlefields outside on its grounds, depicting the locations of three Italian wars.  I only caught a glimpse of this while riding by on the streetcar, but it made me wonder what would happen if it rained!