FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Exploring the Cosmos: The Image Centre’s Winter 2025 Season

The Image Centre's winter season, opening January 22, 2025, promises a compelling array of exhibitions that explore the intersections of art, science, and memory. 

The season is headlined by Michael Benson’s Planetfall, presenting stunning images that will forever change our visual understanding of the solar system. Drawing from historical photographs and raw data collected by NASA and ESA space missions, Benson meticulously researches, processes and composites these images to reveal vivid colors, dramatic light, and extraordinary planetary landscapes. By reworking autonomous imagery from robotic spacecraft, Benson transcends traditional representations of space and raises important questions about the nature of photographic authorship. His work, made at the intersection of art and science, has the potential to reawaken a profound sense of wonder from subject matter we too often take for granted.

Also opening on January 22 is Yann Pocreau: Towards the Light, the Montreal-based artist’s first solo exhibition in Toronto. On view in the University Gallery through April 5, this show investigates the elemental nature of light within photography. Pocreau’s minimalist compositions utilize diverse light sources and camera-less techniques, such as photograms, to expose light’s transformative power. Pocreau’s installation Les impermanents, for instance, features vintage cabinet card photographs pierced with star constellations, weaving together light and history to reflect the ephemerality of the medium. Blending scientific precision with emotional depth, his work encourages viewers to see photography not as a tool for representation, but for its fundamental connection to light.

On the IMC’s Salah J. Bachir New Media Wall, Kelly Richardson: Origin Stories explores our present-day extinction crisis and humanity’s relationship with the cosmos. Richardson’s crystalline depictions of extinct species set adrift in space challenge perceptions of Earth’s biodiversity as exceptional and resilient. Inspired by the artist’s involvement with the Awi’nakola Tree of Life Foundation in British Columbia, Origin Stories invites viewers to reflect on humanity’s responsibility toward preservation of the planet. This innovative integration of digital media and environmental advocacy will resonate with those concerned about climate change and the fragility of life.

During the winter season, we also highlight the creativity of emerging talent in our Student Gallery, with two exhibitions offering intimate and personal explorations of memory and transformation. Ailene deVries: a stone holds my shadow runs from January 22 to February 22, 2025. Through photography and weaving, deVries transforms personal grief into tactile patterns, blending images of a Toronto graveyard with the meditative act of weaving to explore themes of loss and resilience. Following deVries’s exhibition, we present Logan Rayment: The Veteran’s Archive on March 5 and continuing through April 5. Rayment reconstructs the life of his great-grandfather, a WWII veteran, using archival photographs and family stories. He combines these elements into speculative narratives in order to explore the imperfection of memory.

Our winter season launches with an opening party on January 22 from 6–8 p.m., welcoming the community to explore these diverse exhibitions.

About The Image Centre
The Image Centre (IMC) is Canada’s leading institution dedicated to the exhibition, research and collecting of photography. Established in 2012 at Toronto Metropolitan University, in the heart of the city, the IMC welcomes visitors to explore the intersection of photography and culture. Through compelling exhibitions and engaging public programming, the IMC showcases work by emerging, renowned, and anonymous photographers, past and present. With a growing collection of nearly 400,000 photographic objects and an innovative scholarly research program, the IMC is also a vibrant hub for the preservation and study of photography. For more information, visit theimagecentre.ca. 

About Toronto Metropolitan University
Toronto Metropolitan University, formerly known as Ryerson University, is Canada’s leader in innovative, career-oriented education. Urban, culturally diverse and inclusive, the University is home to more than 46,000 students, including 2,900 Master’s and PhD students, 4,000 faculty and staff, and 225,000 alumni worldwide. For more information, visit torontomu.ca.

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For media inquiries, please contact: 
Feven Tesfamariam, The Image Centre
ftesfamariam@torontomu.ca