For those of you that missed Cryptic Chatter last Friday at the Renaissance Cafe, you not only missed seeing a showcase of some of the best spoken word in the country, but you also missed a chance to check out Brendan Seaton's phenomenal gallery of photography examining the role of sex in the interplay between man and woman.

Luckily, you still have a chance to witness Seaton's exhibit: part of this year's Contact Photography Festival, SexeS will be on display at the Renaissance Cafe until the end of the month, and I highly recommend that you make the trip down the Danforth to check it out. I recently had the chance to ask the prolific Toronto area photographer a few questions about the exhibit, 'contructed' photography, and this year's festival.

In 1975, after years of battle, anguish, and pain, Saigon fell. 30 years later, Liza Nguyen made her way across Vietnam collecting soil from the grounds of places of historical significance. And now, Surface, the photographic exhibit borne of her journey comes to Toronto's Contact festival.

I've been to many of the places represented in her series and (to be candid) it's rather incredible how meaningful, and memory-provoking something as simple as a mound of dirt can be. The rich colour and texture of "Cu Chi" depicted here takes me back to the tunnels of Cu Chi, where my guide told me war stories and where I learned of the intricacies of the tunnels' role in the battles.

Nguyen also presents Postcards of Vietnam - a series of photographs shot in various war museums that in lieu of portraying the conventional picture perfect tourist postcard images, depicts the remnants of war past.

Gallery 44
401 Richmond St W, Ste 120
May 5 - June 2
Tue - Sat, 11am - 5pm

While we were setting up for A Constructed Image of Toronto exhibit at Brassaii, the CBC stopped by to take a look and ask us some questions. On Saturday night they aired a short segment on the National. Watch the video above to see their take on how CONTACT is making photography normally reserved for art galleries accessible to the masses; and how the festival has embraced non-traditional artists like photobloggers who are prime examples of how the medium has been democratized.

On this week's podcast we talk about the CONTACT Photography Festival and interview Kathryn Bondy and Nik Dudukovic from the Ontario College of Art & Design about the upcoming OCAD Grad Exhibition.


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The Arts Now is a weekly podcast about the Toronto arts scene hosted by Ella Cooper and Amil Niazi. Image by Vasta

Yesterday was the first Thursday of the month and because it coincided with the opening of the CONTACT Photography Festival, that meant many galleries were having their opening night party.

A lot of the action was along Queen, west of Ossington including dip and drinks at Thrush Holmes (pictured above). But I started my evening on Morrow Avenue, an industrial sidestreet off Dundas near Roncesvalles where three galleries packed 'em in early in the night.

For the month of May, and for the duration of the Contact photography festival, we will be featuring photos from our blogTO Contact Flickr Pool.

The Contact theme for 2007 is "the Constructed Image" and the way they define it is essentially related to photography being used, along with other mediums, in art of mixed (constructed) forms.

For the blogTO Contact 2007 pool, however, (as well as a physical exhibit opening at Brassaii tonight) we're interpreting the theme with a twist: the photographs featured here were taken by several Torontonians. These eclectic images collectively form a "constructed image" of our city, through the eyes of our readers.