Last year's Girls Rock Camp participants. Photo by Alisha Trigatti.

TALK: Need a new hobby? Maybe you’ve got some snobby in-laws to impress? Why not learn the art of collecting photography? Curator Stephen Bulger is giving an introductory lesson tonight on collecting different type of photographic prints, editions, and series as part of the CONTACT Photography Festival. 6:30 p.m.–9 p.m., Stephen Bulger Gallery (1026 Queen Street West), $30. Register here.

BOOKS: In 1914, a boat carrying 376 South Asian migrants was denied entry to Canada. This now-famous incident is the topic of author and filmmaker Ali Kazimi’s new book, Undesirables, White Canada and the Komagata Maru. Kazimi will be interviewed by University of Toronto law professor Audrey Macklin. There will also be a Q&A and an illustrated presentation on the Komagatu Maru and its relevance to our society. Presented by This Is Not A Reading Series. Gladstone Hotel, Main Ballroom (1214 Queen Street West), 7:30 p.m, $5 or FREE with purchase of a book.

MUSIC: Last summer’s Girls Rock Camp was a huge success, spawning loads of mini-rock goddesses. Tonight, six grrl bands will share and tear up the stage, drumming up financial support for Girls Rock Camp 2012. Hot Kid, Planet Creature, Das Rad, Jasmyn Burke (Rattail), Terror Lake, and The Beverleys will all be in attendance. The Silver Dollar (486 Spadina Avenue), 9 p.m., $5 suggested donation.

Urban Planner is Torontoist‘s guide to what’s on in Toronto, published every weekday morning, and in a weekend edition Friday afternoons. If you have an event you’d like considered, email all of its details—as well as images, if you’ve got any—to events@torontoist.com.

The CONTACT Photography Festival runs from May 1 to May 31. We’ll be profiling selected artists and shows throughout the month.

Photo by Jill Greenberg.

“Glass Ceiling“
O’Born Contemporary (131 Ossington Avenue)
Runs to June 2; Tuesday to Saturday, 11 a.m.–6 p.m.

It’s telling that in Jill Greenberg’s latest exhibition, “Glass Ceiling,” none of the faces of the women are visible. In fact, these almost-naked women are barely keeping their heads above the water. The world of art—photography, painting, and all—is (let’s face it) still largely a man’s world. Since graduating with a senior thesis entitled The Female Object, Greenberg has explored this state of affairs and broader feminist questions in her work, remarking on the difficulties women face when competing against men.

In 2008 Greenberg came under fire when she, tasked with photographing Republican presidential candidate John McCain for the Atlantic, decided to create political art for her own website and so cast him in a sinister light. She has since noted the incident in her bio as such: “The violent backlash from her political art has informed this return to the question of what is tolerated by women in our culture.”

We recently had a chance to speak with Greenberg (who is currently on a shoot in Brazil) about feminism, shooting underwater, and whether or not the term “glass ceiling” is still an appropriate metaphor for female oppression.

Torontoist: What difficulties did you find shooting underwater?

Jill Greenberg: The medium-format studio-portrait camera with the underwater housing, with two underwater flashes on folding arms, is very, very awkward. I am wearing full scuba gear, weights, and an air tank, sitting at the bottom of a 13-foot-deep outdoor swimming pool in L.A.

I tend to make my personal shoots very difficult: wild horses, grizzly bears, toddlers. Somehow it works out.

The women in your photographs could be seen as decapitated, dead, drowned, or disposed of, to name a few—but in the centre of it all (in the photographs and physical gallery space) are the high heels/glass slipper. Which do you think our society is more obsessed with: the beauty or the violence?

I think we are all obsessed with beauty; only some of the population enjoys violence (men!).

Photo by Jill Greenberg.

There’s a particular photo that stands out mainly because it flips the water/ceiling to the ground so the woman is now on top. Was there a different message you were trying to send with this one?

Perhaps it reminds me of Narcissus. She is peacocking and her reflection is quite visible. We know how that went. My idea has always been about the impossibility of the perfection we women are told to aspire to. The fact that they wear heels underwater seems absurd, but these swimmers are dressed for work. Heels are part of the costume/kit they wear when performing.

These photographs could be interpreted as women coming up for air after being suffocated by patriarchy. But the women could easily be seen here as fish, and the surface of the water (that is, the glass ceiling) is actually keeping them alive by being above them. Thinking now to the backlash you faced for the McCain photograph, it does seems that women get cut up and chewed out if they manage to pass this ceiling and one-up men. It’s disturbing to think that there may be a metaphor worse than the “glass ceiling” to describe the oppression of women. What are your thoughts on this?

I could go on about the sad state of affairs for women in the world. North America is better than the Middle East or Africa, of course, but it’s misleading to think the playing field is flat. The rules are different for men and women. It didn’t really sink in for me until I was into my 40s.

As a photographer who goes by the name “The Manipulator” and does intense work in post-production, where do you feel the line should be drawn in terms of altering an image (referring to art versus objectification of women, for example)?

I have actually dropped that name, since when I first used it for my website, in 1995, I was one of very few photographers using digital imaging software. Now, of course, “Photoshop” is a verb, an adjective. And much of my work is captured in camera, with lighting. I don’t think there should be rules about images, unless it’s specifically photojournalism. I think everyone needs to be aware that all pictures lie, even if they are not Photoshopped, since slicing a 500th of a second out of a scene, in some cases a staged scene, is not going to tell a truthful story.

Is it possible to critique the objectification of women without incidentally turning the woman into an object in the critique?

No, it is not. It’s a conundrum, but I have reconciled myself to it. Image making and photography, specifically, objectify the subject. There is a power dynamic at play between the viewer and the viewed. This is one of the times that the gender of the artist is significant to the interpretation of the work.

The CONTACT Photography Festival runs from May 1 to May 31. We’ll be profiling selected artists and shows throughout the month.

Bruce Gilden, New York City.

Street View
Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art (952 Queen Street West)
Runs to June 3; Tuesday to Sunday 11 a.m.–6 p.m.

Bruce Gilden, one of seven photographers whose work is currently on display at the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art as part of the CONTACT Photography Festival, defined street photography this way: “If you can smell the street by looking at a photograph then it’s street photography.”

With that in mind, this exhibition reeks to high heaven.

The festival’s 2012 theme is an exploration of “the social and political issues that shape our experience of publicness.” At MOCCA, from Bill Sullivan’s installation, More Turns, to quirky images in Nine Eyes of Google Street View, everyday life is elevated—or debased, depending on your view—to the status of street theatre.

Spanning six decades, the exhibition brings together some of the greats in the field, among them originators of the genre—and most prominently, Henri Cartier-Bresson. But not just him. As early as the 1930s, Brooklyn-born photographer Helen Levitt was traipsing through East Harlem neighbourhoods, a trusty Leica at the ready, collecting black and white images of children at play. Her prints remain sublime and timeless.

Arthur Fellig, known to the world as Weegee, inhabited a much darker place. Perched in a rented room across the street from a busy New York City police detachment, he spent hours listening in on police communications with a scanner. If a call piqued his interest, he’d race to the crime scene, arriving before authorities could cordon off the area. Besides photos of crime victims and car wrecks, Weegee specialized in photographing the gawkers and curious onlookers who inevitably gather when police tape appears.

Weegee, Mrs Henietta Torres and her Daughter Alda Watch as Another Daughter and her Son Die in a Fire, New York City.

There is an invasive quality inherent in street photography—skilled practitioners must rely on a certain degree of subterfuge. Bruce Gilden is so swift in his execution, subjects often remain unaware he has photographed them at all.

From the deceptively simple to the downright grotesque, we see versions of ourselves in these images. These streets are our streets, peopled with strangers we recognize. Yet street photography has an uncanny ability to transcend daily experience. Take Weegee’s 1939 print, Mrs Henrietta Torres and her Daughter Ada watch as Another Daughter and her Son Die in a Fire. Captured on a large 4×5 Speed Graphic camera, the image reveals a mother’s anguish at a moment of unimaginable pain. Cloaked in black, mouth agape, her grief harkens back to Renaissance depictions of Mary witnessing her son’s crucifixion.

Street View transports viewers back to a black and white world of photography where the scent of the street was just as fragrant and repugnant as it is today.

This weekend, join a walkabout as Jane's Walk activities take over the city. Photo courtesy of Melissa Wong.

COMIC BOOKS: With Toronto comic conventions becoming increasingly popular and EXPENSIVE, one has to appreciate the shining star that is the (completely free) Toronto Comic Arts Festival. Brought to you by the Toronto Public Library and The Beguiling, this event features workshops, games, giveaways, exhibitors, and tons of special guests (Kate Beaton, Jeff Smith, and Alison Bechdel for starters). Toronto Reference Library (789 Yonge Street), Saturday and Sunday, FREE.

HOT DOCS: It’s North America’s biggest documentary film fest, it’s celebrating a new home cinema, and it’s got everything from the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling to a penis museum. And it’s in its final weekend! Everything you need to know about Hot Docs 2012 is at our festival hub.

JANE’S WALK: Bust out those running shoes because Jane’s Walk—the annual event that honours urbanist Jane Jacobs by encouraging walking events around North America—is back. Though there are plenty of walks to choose from all weekend, here are a couple you might want to add to your to-do list:

• In the interest of getting to know your city from a new perspective, why not let these fourth and fifth graders show you around? “These are the People in Your Neighbourhood” (yes, allow that song to consume you now) is an interactive tour in which children will guide you through their neighbourhood. Meet in front of St. Anthony’s Church (1041 Bloor Street West), Saturday, 1 p.m., FREE.
• Have you ever shut your eyes while walking just to see how well you’d get around without them? Cityscape/Soundscape: Exploring Our Sonic Environment will allow you to test just that, by taking you on a blindfolded walk through the city. Using only your ears, you’ll explore Toronto’s environmental sounds. Meet at the Pavilion Stage of the Toronto Music Garden (475 Queens Quay W.), Saturday, 4 p.m., FREE.
• And, of course, we have even more suggestions for you right here.

PHOTOGRAPHY: Figuring out which CONTACT photography festival event you want to attend is no easy task, but here’s one that should definitely be on your list. Stop! and eat the roses features the work of James Brylowski, who aims to look at the natural world through “virgin eyes.” Studio Huddle (97 Niagara Street), Saturday, opening reception, 4 p.m.–12 a.m., FREE.

MUSIC: Though the musical hot ticket this weekend would definitely be floating in space with Jason Pierce and friends, Harbourfront Centre is bringing its HATCH program to a strong close with Kids on TV. This Toronto cult-queer band combines house music, roller-disco, love songs, and more to create Pantheon—a performance project that includes photography and film. It celebrates inspiring historical and fictional figures important to the band. Harbourfront Centre, Studio Theatre (235 Queens Quay W.), Saturday, 8 p.m., $15.

COMEDY: It’s time to get your giggle on as this improv show brings together an all-star lineup of performers for an event called Return of the White Rhino. Featuring Lauren Ash (TV’s The Dating Guy), Rob Baker and Rob Norman (Mantown), Kayla Lorette (TV’s That’s So Weird), and many many more, White Rhino also promises free prizes and a DJ party after the show. Comedy Bar (945 Bloor Street West), Saturday, 10:15 p.m., $10.

PARADE: Billy Bryans, the late drummer of the Juno Award–winning band The Parachute Club, is getting a tribute this weekend in the form of Duende—a parade to celebrate his musical legacy. The procession will stop at venues significant to Bryans’ career, and will end with an hour-long service and evening of music (with bands including The Parachute Club, the Downchild Blues Band, Cuban hip-hop artist Telmar, and more). Starts at Grange Park, Sunday, 3:30 p.m., FREE (donations accepted).

Correction: May 8, 1:15PM – The James Brylowski CONTACT exhibit is at the now-named Studio Huddle (previously listed as Huddle Studio & Gallery) and the correct address is 97 Niagara Street, not 997 Niagara Street.

Urban Planner is Torontoist‘s guide to what’s on in Toronto, published every weekday morning, and in a weekend edition Friday afternoons. If you have an event you’d like considered, email all of its details—as well as images, if you’ve got any—to events@torontoist.com.

"Freedom" by Catherine Farquharson.

The Journey of a Girl
Birks Jewellers (55 Bloor Street West)
May 1 to May 31
Part of the CONTACT Photography Festival

It’s not exactly that Catherine Farquharson’s lush portraits of girls and women in South Asia and Africa suffer from exoticism. The photos are incredibly intimate. Stripped of almost all context, the faces of Farquharson’s subjects take on extra resonance. In groups, the women are often in motion, caught in a moment of unadulterated exuberance. Being, pure and simple, shines through, making it hard to interpret them as symbols of otherness.

The big but is that the lack of context also works against the intention of the exhibition. The photos have a quality of timelessness, but in rapidly evolving countries like India the role and lives of women are anything but static. A photo titled “Determination,” of an older Indian woman with a tape measure around her neck, doesn’t begin to hint at the depth of feminine experience in a country where women travel abroad as part of entrepreneurial delegations, participate in SlutWalk, and are told to bleach their vaginas. Without any allusion to the complicated world they live in, the women in Farquarson’s photos don’t seem to be agents of their own change. They’re defined by stasis.

The problem becomes more apparent in a photo of girls running down a dirt road entitled “Freedom.” The girls are likely not politically free, and are certainly not economically free. In this case, simplification in the hopes of forging a connection between viewer and subject does a disservice to the reality of the situation.

It’s a mighty conundrum. And it’s made even more muddled by the fact that proceeds for the exhibition’s opening evening, on May 1, went to PLAN Canada, which is a wonderful organization. This would all have been great, except the event was hosted in the Birks diamond store on Bloor Street. While Birks’ official policy is to eschew conflict diamonds, and they’ve been generous in their prior support of the charity, the sight of women of limited means juxtaposed with glittering cases of diamonds was a bit hard to stomach. Perhaps if the message of these photographs weren’t so sweet and simple, it would have been easier to take.

Adi Nes, "Untitled" (1995)

CONTACT, the world’s largest celebration of photography, is upon us once again. Exhibits will be showing in galleries and on city streets throughout the month of May, this year centring on the theme of “Public.” As described by artistic director Bonnie Rubenstein, the goal is to “challenge the distinctions between our private lives and the public sphere.”

To help you navigate the dozens of installations, two of Torontoist‘s photographers have put together a list of can’t-miss shows.

The Dark Room: A Group Show Celebrating Alternative Process and Analogue Photography

ARTIST: group exhibition
WHERE: Centre for Culture, Arts, Media & Education (918 Bathurst Street)
WHEN: April 20–May 10; Wednesday to Saturday, 1–4 p.m.

In a world where Instagram gets purchased by Facebook for a billion dollars, it’s exciting to see a group show exploring various alternative/historical analogue photography and printing methods. (Corbin Smith)

Photographie

"100 rue Blainville Ouest" (Gwenaël Bélanger, 2009)

ARTIST: group exhibition
WHERE: Arsenal Toronto (45 Ernest Avenue)
WHEN: April 20–June 9; Friday 12–7 p.m. and Saturday 12–5 p.m.

Though the academic jargon in their write-up may seem off-putting, the photos are pretty amazing. (Corbin Smith)

Toronto Transformed

"Strombo," incorporating part of City of Toronto Archives, Fonds 200, Series 372, Sub-series 3, Item 1234 (2011)

ARTIST: Harry Enchin
WHERE: Akasha Art Projects (511 Church Street)
WHEN: April 26–May 26; Tuesday to Friday, 11 a.m.–6 p.m. and Saturday 11 a.m.–5 p.m.

A wonderful photo-mashup of contemporary and historical Toronto. (Corbin Smith)

Glass Ceiling

"American Girl Doll" (2010)

ARTIST: Jill Greenberg
WHERE: O’Born Contemporary (131 Ossington Avenue)
WHEN: April 28–June 2; Tuesday to Saturday, 11 a.m.–6 p.m.

Glass Ceiling is a rather smart exploration of postmodern feminism through conceptual photography. Greenberg’s metaphorical portraits of women show her subjects “simultaneously living up to and being undermined by society’s standards of femininity.” (Corbin Smith)

Sleeping Soldiers

"Kelso" (2007–2008)

ARTIST: Tim Hetherington
WHERE: Billboards on Lansdowne Avenue at Dundas and College Streets
WHEN: April 30–June 30

The last conceptual war photography series Hetherington completed before his untimely death in April 2011, while photographing in Libya. The photos are being shown as part of a national art-on-billboards project. (Corbin Smith)

At Home

"Mourning" (2012)

ARTIST: Rehab Nazzal
WHERE: I.M.A. Gallery (80 Spadina Avenue)
WHEN: May 2–26; Wednesday to Saturday, 12–5 p.m.

Nazzal approaches the recent history of the Palestinian struggle for autonomy with a high degree of imagination and innovation. Her exhibition is more than simply images, it’s a collection of image, video, and sound—all which speak to each other in various ways. (Corbin Smith)

Album

"Family photo albums" (2012)

ARTIST: Max Dean
WHERE: Art Gallery of Ontario (317 Dundas Street West) and locations across Toronto
WHEN: May 5–September 9

An unusual way to display work: both installed in the AGO and via roving interactive events across the city. Throughout the month, the artist will appear in the Foto Bug (a “specially configured” 1966 Volkswagen Beetle) to showcase and hand out one of 500 photo albums to unsuspecting passersby. (Dean Bradley)

Adi Nes

Adi Nes, "Untitled" (1995)

ARTIST: Adi Nes
WHERE: Olga Korper Gallery (17 Morrow Avenue)
WHEN: May 3–June 2; Tuesday to Saturday, 12–5 p.m.

The first Canadian exhibition of this internationally renown photographer’s work. Nes has a clear vision of the message he wants to convey—no easy feat given his subject is conflict in Israel. (Dean Bradley)

Gender and Exposure in Contemporary Iranian Photography

Still from "Dowry for Mahrou" (Samira Eskandarfar, 2006)

ARTISTS: Samira Eskandarfar, Amirali Ghasemi, Abbas Kowsari, Zeinab Salarvand, Arman Stepanian, Sadegh Tirafkan
WHERE: Gallery 44 (401 Richmond Street West)
WHEN: May 4–June 9; Tuesday to Saturday, 11 a.m.–5 p.m.

A chance to learn about a culture that is often poorly captured by the media, this exhibition provides a look into what day-to-day life is like in Iran. (Dean Bradley)

Between Fantasy and Reality: Contemporary Photography from Cambodia

"First Highrise" (Vandy Rattana, 2008)

ARTIST: Chan Moniroth, Vandy Rattana, Khvay Samnang, Lim Sokchanlina
WHERE: Art Square Gallery (334 Dundas Street West)
WHEN: May 8–June 4, 9–11 p.m. daily

A rare opportunity to view works from Cambodia. (Dean Bradley)

CONTACT Bike Tour

ARTIST: various
WHERE: Start at the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art (952 Queen Street West)
WHEN: May 20, beginning at 1 p.m.

CONTACT can be overwhelming. This is a great way for first time visitors to experience the festival: an organized bike tour through the city to view all of the public installations. (Dean Bradley)

iPhoneography

"Cakes" (2011)

ARTIST: Jennifer Reedie
WHERE: Wychwood Barns Community Gallery (76 Wychwood Avenue)
WHEN: May 22–31; Tuesday to Friday, 12–5 p.m. and Saturday to Sunday, 8:30 a.m.–2:30 p.m.

Who would have thought that a photo exhibition could be shot, well, on an camera phone? It will be interesting where this convergence of technology takes CONTACT in the upcoming years. (Dean Bradley)

It’s time to talk about Toronto’s relationship with graffiti. Like in this FLIP HOP video from Che Kothari on Vimeo.

Today in Toronto: a closing party for the CONTACT Photography Festival, an opening party for the Worldwide Short Film Festival, and a City Hall community summit to discuss the hot topic of graffiti.

PARTY: For the past couple of weeks Toronto has been a haven for shutterbugs and photography fans alike at the CONTACT Festival, sponsored by a certain bank which has been slapping its name on everything. This year’s McLuhan-centric fest gave us plenty of amazing exhibits to ogle, but like all good things, it must come to an end. Fortunately, like the best things, it shall do so with a big wrap party. Festival staff, artists, and guests will all congregate to close CONTACT on a high note, and also to hear the announcement of the BMW Exhibition Prize recipient. Spoke Club (600 King Street West), 6 p.m., FREE.
FILM: Good things come in small packages—as do funny things, scary things, sweet things, heartbreaking things, and so forth—at the Worldwide Short Film Festival. The week of bite-sized big-screen stories kicks off tonight with a showcase of award-winning short films from around the world, as well as a gala reception. If there’s anything half as good as their Charlie Bit My Finger tributes, then it’s bound to be an entertaining evening. Check out our humble recommendations for the rest of the fest here. Bloor Cinema (506 Bloor Street West), 7 p.m., $20.
SUMMIT: Graffiti has been a bit of a hot-button topic at City Hall since our illustrious and oft-illustrated mayor declared war on tags and murals citywide. The graffiti community was quick to return fire, putting both sides at a bit of an impasse. The City of Toronto—led by Councillor Cesar Palacio (Ward 17, Davenport)—has decided to put down the pressure washer and open lines of communication by holding a community summit on the subject. Speakers will include artists, curators, business owners, and Rob Ford’s special adviser on the arts, Jeff Melanson, as they explore both sides of the controversial issue. The event will also be available for live streaming. Drake Hotel (1150 Queen Street West), 7 p.m., FREE.