Photography Collection

Famous faces from the Black Star Historical Black & White Photography Collection are on display in Toronto as part of the 2007 Contact Toronto Photography Festival. Andy Warhol, Elvis Presley, Marlon Brando, Bobby Kennedy and Jacques Cousteau are among 70 celebrities from the arts and public life shown as part of a display of the rich Black Star photography collection, which was donated to Ryerson University in 2005. Ryerson photography students have printed large-format images from the collection for the display titled The Celebrity Persona. The images, shot between the early 1900s and the 1980s, include works by world-renowned photographers such as W. Eugene Smith, Dennis Brack, Steve Schapiro and Canadian great Malak. "The images showcased in this exhibition are iconic in every sense of the word," said Don Snyder, chair of Ryerson School of Image Arts. Ryerson recently selected an architect to create a new $8-million home, including a public gallery, for the historic collection. Public spaces and galleries throughout Toronto will be displaying works from photographers as part of the Contact festival, running May 1 to June 3.

Isabella Hayeur, Catherine 2006

The theme of this year's contact festival is "the constructed image," a way of exploring how new technology and techniques have transformed photography's relationship to reality. An exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art features photographers from nine countries, including Canadians Karen Ostrom and Scott McFarland, Germany's Thomas Demand, Briton Sam Taylor-Wood, Spain's Dionisio González and Korea's Kim Joon. The festival also will bring photography to public spaces such as bus shelters, subway platforms and parking lots. Contact is the largest photography festival in North America, with more than 500 local, national and international artists participating at more than 200 venues across the GTA. The celebrity images from Ryerson's Black Star collection are on display at the Allen Lambert Galleria at BCE Place until May 26.