Toronto’s annual photography festival, CONTACT, has begun and I thought I’d take a minute to recommend some shows that I’ll be checking out between now and the end of the month. This year’s incarnation is built upon the subtitle, “Between Memory & History”, which I must admit is sort of an obvious theme. I mean, you don’t need to call a photography festival “Between Memory & History” for it to be between memory and history.
There is, however, an appropriate and brilliant quote published in the catalogue’s introduction from Pierre Nova, who says:
The quest for memory is the search for one’s history… Modern memory is, above all, archival. It relies entirely on the materiality of the trace, the immediacy of the recording, the visibility of the image.
This quote is particularly stirring for me because I’ve long believed that the materiality of memory is what eventually causes its dissolution. The essence of memory is not material, and it in fact requires complex neural functions to establish and then retrieve. Everyone knows that practice makes perfect, and that exercising physiological and psychological capacities ensure their agility. Therefore, our dependence on material manifestations of memory, experience and trace are gradually causing us to lose our ability to store memories in our brains.
But I’m no scientist! I only speak from my own experience. On to the photography! (Click on photos to visit the official Contact page).
The first show on my list is Accumulated Histories by Jenna Edwards. Edwards is last year’s recipient of the Best Photography award at the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition. With her Accumulated Histories series, Edwards photographs the physicality of history and the materiality by which we preserve our memories. I really love the way the photographs are turned into near-abstractions in this series — we are confronted with what we perceive to be a collection of memories but have no connection to the experience. York Quay Centre. Opening May 2 from 6pm – 9pm. Show continues to June 22.
I’m also looking forward to seeing Peter Kingstone’s 100 Stories About My Grandmother at Gallery TPW. Kingstone has created a four-channel video installation wherein he asks male sex trade workers to talk about their grandmothers. Through this storytelling, Kingstone is able to construct an “ideal” grandmother figure while giving voice to a marginalized group. I’m really interested in seeing how this show is installed. Gallery TPW. Opening May 9 from 7pm to 9pm. Show continues to June 14.
Finally, although I know nothing about the show except what is in the catalogue, I recommend Caffè Café, a celebration of Toronto’s cafe culture since the first outdoor patio opened in 1963, for the sole reason that it includes the work of one of my favourite professors, Vid Ingelevics. Also works by Armando Lulu, Saajid Motala, Vincenzo Pietropaolo, Rebecca A. Pinkus, Estaban Leonardo Tamburri, Jorge Uzon, Luigi Ziani and Schuster Gindin. Side Space Gallery. Opening May 3 from 3pm to 6pm. Show continues to May 31 (24-hour window gallery).
