The 29th edition of the CONTACT Photography Festival, a Toronto-based event dedicated to exhibiting, analyzing, and celebrating photography and lens-based media, has returned to the city. The festival, which kicked off on May 1, 2025, aims to provide opportunities to experience a range of exhibitions in neighbourhoods across Greater Toronto, and events including openings, lectures, artist talks, book reviews, workshops, and more. The 2025 core program will run until May 31, and will feature curated exhibitions and public art installations highlighting projects by Canadian and international artists and photographers, developed both independently and in partnership with local and international arts and cultural organizations. In 2025, lens-based and mixed-media works will explore subjects such as anti-colonial practices, community-building, Afro-futurism, activism, protest and revolution, personal and collective memory, addressing gaps in historical and contemporary archives, as well as a return to early photographic practices and experimentation. Artists  featured across the core program include Steven Beckly, Sandra Brewster, Kiri Dalena, Buck Ellison, Rosalie Favell, Alanna Fields, Tamara Abdul Hadi, Natalie Hunter, Shawn Johnston, Andreas Koch, Christina Leslie, John Latour, Glenn McArthur, Pınar Öğrenci, M. NourbeSe Philip, Alison Postma, Ho Tam, and Helena Uambembe. Some highlights of the upcoming festival with an architectural focus include the following. Under the Wrecking Ball: Shaping Toronto’s Downtown 1960-1989 This exhibition explores the impact of these visionary decades, and the demolitions of older city blocks that resulted. The structures that arose in their place forever changed the Toronto streetscape. “Toronto’s post-war era was marked by a long period of optimism and prosperity, which among other things, resulted in massive architectural projects emblematic of the city’s wealth and modernist ambitions,” reads the festival’s website. “The years between 1960 and 1989 witnessed the city’s downtown core transformed through large-scale land redevelopments. These projects were made possible by the sudden availability of railway lands, changes in architecture and engineering, and the growth of Toronto’s banking and financial sector.”   Paulina Scheck – Shoreline. Image credit: CONTACT Photography Festival Shoreline The Leslie St. Spit is a rehabilitated landfill on Toronto’s East Waterfront. This exhibition consists of photographs taken during archaeological surveys carried out at the Spit between 2020 and 2024. The photographer’s lens explores the gentle interface between layers of rubble and the animal and vegetal realm, including playful interventions by anonymous builders working in the ruined medium.   Samuel Toward – Unauthorized Personnel Allowed. Image credit: CONTACT Photography Festival Unauthorized Personnel Allowed This exhibition is a photographic series documenting the Ontario Line subway’s construction, rapidly reshaping the Don River’s Lower and Western branches, the neighbourhoods of Thorncliffe Park, Flemingdon Park, and around the now-shuttered Ontario Science Centre. Unauthorized Personnel Allowed questions how the surrounding landscape is documented while in flux and how the photographic process has historically been used to obfuscate these changes brought on by human dominance over nature.   East Streets Scarborough  East Streets: Scarborough explores the district’s evolving identity through three bodies of work. Jennifer Lee’s Memories of Scarborough captures personal stories and the landscapes connected to them, highlighting the deep connections residents have with their surroundings.   Henry VanderSpek – Urban Scrawl. Image credit: CONTACT Photography Festival Toronto Urban Scrawl  Urban Scrawl features a range of expression inscribed onto benches, sidewalks, and streets of Toronto, captured over a twelve-year span by photographer Henry VanderSpek. Visitors are encouraged to see the “writing on the wall” and explore the mystery and meaning in the messages. Nithursan Elamuhilan’s Evolving Landscapes: The Meadoway in Focus documents the Meadoway’s transformation from a hydro corridor into a thriving natural habitat, showcasing the balance between urban development and nature. Next Stop Nowhere: The Swansong of the Scarborough RT by TTCriders reflects on the RT’s legacy while advocating for better transit solutions. This exhibition invites viewers to reflect on Scarborough’s past, present, and future, celebrating its rich culture and enduring spirit. The post Must-see programs at this year’s CONTACT Photography festival appeared first on Canadian Architect.