2021 Events at the IMC

Tanenbaum Lecture: Eli Reed

Acclaimed American photographer Eli Reed is best known for documenting social justice issues and the effects of war on society. Beginning his career as a freelancer in 1970, he went on to produce in-depth projects on conflict in El Salvador, Guatemala and other Central American countries (1982), civil war and its aftermath in Beirut (1983-1987), the ousting of “Baby Doc” Duvalier in Haiti (1986), U.S. military action in Panama (1989), the Walled City in Hong Kong, and African American experience spanning the 1970s through the end of the 1990s, which resulted in his groundbreaking publication Black in America (1997). In this talk, the prolific photographer will explore his documentary practice over five decades. Register now

Please be advised that this presentation includes depictions of violence and nudity which may not be suitable for all audiences.

Documentary in Dispute Book Launch & Conversation

The 1939 publication Changing New York is a landmark of documentary photography, yet no one has seen the book that Berenice Abbott and Elizabeth McCausland actually planned and wrote—until now. Join author Sarah M. Miller and The Image Centre (formerly Ryerson Image Centre) Exhibitions Curator Gaëlle Morel for a conversation about Documentary in Dispute, the latest release in The Image Centre Books series. Their discussion will focus on the process of reconstructing the original manuscript of Changing New York, how it alters the history of documentary photography, and discoveries in The Image Centre archives that made it possible. Register now

Artist Talk with Dana Claxton

Winner of the 2020 Scotiabank Photography Award, artist Dana Claxton works across photography, video, and performance art to investigate Indigenous beauty, contemporary culture, and spirituality. In this virtual talk, Claxton will discuss her critically acclaimed practice and delve into the works on display in this season’s Scotiabank Photography Award exhibition, which will offer a wide-ranging exploration of the Great Plains and her studio work in Vancouver. Claxton is a Professor and Head of the Department of Art History, Visual Art and Theory at the University of British Columbia and her family reserve is Wood Mountain Lakota First Nations. Register now.

Noon Time Collection Talk with Steven Evans

Steven Evans is a Toronto-based photographer and collector who has focused on architecture and the urban environment for over 40 years. Evans graduated from Toronto Metropolitan University's (formerly Ryerson University) Media Studies program in 1982 and as a collector in the years since, Evans has compiled, over two decades, a comprehensive resource of early photographs and other objects associated with the British photographer Francis Bedford. The collection surveys Bedford’s impressive achievement as a leading maker of architectural and landscape images during the late 19th century. This talk is an opportunity for the public to learn about the Francis Bedford Research Collection, of nearly 1300 objects, which features the photographer’s early work with illustration and lithography, and examples of his amateur and commercial photography. Register now.

Artist Talk with Rana Nazzal Hamadeh

Join Rana Nazzal Hamadeh in conversation with Dr. Chandni Desai, Assistant Professor in the Critical Studies of Equity and Solidarity at the University of Toronto, about the multimedia exhibition 1/1000th of a Dunam, which explores Palestinian assertions of belonging through the site of soil—an epistemic space where land and belonging are imagined. Co-presented with the Documentary Media program, School of Image Arts, Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson University). 

Precious Moments: A Virtual Launch of Neville and Vivienne Poy's Book of Photography

Join us for a very special virtual gathering to celebrate the launch of Precious Moments, an art-quality coffee table book made of the finest materials, showcasing the fine art nature photography of Dr. Neville G. Poy, accompanied by the observations of nature and the gardening tips of The Hon. Dr. Vivienne Poy. In this intimate fireside chat, Neville and Vivienne Poy sit down with Paul Roth, director of The Image Centre (formerly Ryerson Image Centre), to discuss Precious Moments. Proceeds from book sales will support students exhibiting in the gallery at The Image Centre. Visit the Precious Moments book website to purchase your copy today.

Artist Talk with Susan Dobson

Susan Dobson is a lens-based artist who is interested in the ontological, technological, and material qualities of photography. In this talk, Dobson will discuss a series of photographs featuring aspects of the now defunct university slide collections at Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson University) and the University of Guelph, both collections that she used as an educator. Her exhibition forefronts the material qualities of slides and their ephemera, and also invites attendees to consider how university curricula have changed since slides were last in use. What can image-makers and educators learn when viewing these obsolete collections and the established canons they represent through a diverse and inclusionary lens? 

Susan Dobson is a professor in the School of Fine Art and Music at the University of Guelph. Her work is represented by Michael Gibson Gallery. 

Artist and Curator in Conversation: Emmanuelle Léonard with Louise Déry

Join Emmanuelle Léonard in conversation with Louise Déry, director of the Galerie de l'UQAM and guest curator of Deployment. Léonard and Déry will enter a dialogue on the themes presented in the exhibition, consisting of photographic portraits and a two-channel video made during Léonard’s research residency in 2018, under the Canadian Forces Artists Program in the Far North. Deployment brings the elements of Canada’s military operations into sharp contrast against a backdrop of endless snow in the remote Resolute (Qausuittuq) sector of Nunavut.  

Noon Time Collection Talk with Edward Burtynsky

Join us for a conversation between The Image Centre's (formerly Ryerson Image Centre) Director Paul Roth and celebrated Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky, whose iconic images have brought global attention to the impacts of human industry on the natural landscape. 

This insightful discussion will focus on Burtynsky’s artistic legacy, and the first two instalments of his multiyear, career-spanning donation of his photographs to The Image Centre. The first instalment includes more than 100 of Burtynsky’s earliest images from 1970–1989, revealing his origins as an earnest undergraduate photo student at Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson University) Polytechnical Institute, making black and white landscape images with a view camera; his use of color to portray industry and human attempts to control nature; and his first photographic print editions, which established his reputation.

The second instalment of more than 50 images, from 1990–1999, illustrates Burtynsky’s artistic evolution and maturity during a period of increasingly ambitious projects and growing international recognition. These images track his innovative adoption of elevated viewpoints, to frame landscapes, industrial sites, extractive manufacturing, and waste practices within a widening consciousness of climate change and environmental jeopardy.

The Edward Burtynsky Collection at The Image Centre currently comprises over 200 photographs and is on track to become the most comprehensive institutional collection of this important artist's work.

Tanenbaum Lecture with Wendy Ewald

For over fifty years Wendy Ewald has collaborated in art projects with children, families, women, and teachers around the world, in communities including India, Holland, South Africa, Mexico, Tanzania, and Morocco. Her projects examine questions of identity and cultural differences, as she works with children to use cameras and writing to record their families, communities and themselves, making artworks that evoke their fantasies and dreams. In this lecture, Ewald will discuss her newest exhibition, tracing the evolution of her photographic collaborations from 1969–2009, with a focus on her work in Labrador, Canada, as well as Colombia and in the U.S. Her exhibition The Pictures Woke the People Up: Canada, Colombia and American Alphabets runs November 20, 2021 – January 15, 2022 at the Stephen Bulger Gallery.

Presented with the Stephen Bulger Gallery.