Suzy Lake: Scotiabank Photography Award Max Dean: As Yet Untitled, at Ryerson Image Centre, April 29 to August 13, reception and Contact Photography Festival launch 7-11 pm April 28
A retrospective of Lake’s influential feminist self-representations honours her as the recipient of Contact’s annual award. In Dean’s installation, a robotic arm either rips up or archives found photos as directed by gallery-goers. The video wall screens Souvenir, films about Indigenous representation by Jeff Barnaby, Michelle Latimer, Kent Monkman and Caroline Monnet. The opening also serves as a launch party for the festival.
Maskull Lasserre: Omen, at Centre Space, April 29 to May 27, reception 3-6 pm April 29.
There are a few non-Contact at Toronto galleries. The Quebec-based artist known for meticulously carving darkly poetic hybrid works from found objects a rat emerging from a door, a gun conjoined with a violin continues to explore the strangeness of the familiar with sculptures in wood and cast iron.
Petra Collins: Pacifier, at Contact Gallery, April 29 to June 24, reception/artist talk 2-5 pm April 29, and Jackie And Anna (Rainbow Tear), outdoor installation on north facade of 460 King West, April 26 to June 30.
In Pacifier, New York-based Torontonian Collins, a young photographer whose work bridges art and fashion, shows intimate portraits of family members in Toronto and Budapest. Her outdoor installation featuring her sister Anna and a friend is part of Collins’s focus on the world of teenage girls and mental illness.
