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Lucky 13s
WHO Members of Toronto’s Gallery 44 Centre for Contemporary Photography
WHERE/WHEN A two-part show at Gallery 1313 (1313 Queen West), to May 8 and May 11-22. 416-536-6778.
WHAT Mostly formal black-and-white and colour prints, the techniques employed in Consequences range from commercial to creative.
WHY Artist Daniel Louth says on behalf of the group, “Whatever you do is going to have consequences. Photos document moments in time, which are consequences of what leads up to them. A photo, then, is a document of consequences, which is applicable in each example in this show.”
BUZZ A show with a mixed membership of professionals and recent graduates invites a wide range of opinions and responses. For particularly innovative work, keep an eye out for William Mokrynski ‘s ultra-long print taken with his custom-built 360-degree circuit camera.
Out of Africa
Who Jürgen Schadeberg , Jewish expatriate from Berlin who became South Africa’s leading documentary photographer from the 50s to the 90s.
Where/when Shift Gallery (688 Richmond West), May 10-29. 416-576-5562.
What Vibrant and arresting photos of emergent black musicians, politicians and township life alongside photos of pasty and pompous-looking colonial white folk.
Why Schadeberg writes: “In the 50s the black world was becoming culturally and politically dynamic, whereas the white world seemed to me to be isolated, cocooned, colonial and ignorant of the black world.”
Buzz This unique look at South Africa from the perspective of an insightful outsider who was able to document life on both sides of the colour line contains unforgettable images of the naive and heady days preceding the long and violent struggle against apartheid.
Disaster pack
Who Ed Burtynsky , David McMillan and Horomi Tsuchida
Where/When Gallery TPW (80 Spadina), May 7-June 4. 416-504-4242.
What A show of paired photographs of sites before and after upheavals, titled Disaster Topographics .
Why Says curator and OCAD art dean Blake Fitzpatrick , “Typical before-and-after juxtapositions attempt to tame the terror opened by the September 11 attack by picturing the symbolic transformation of the survivor. These artists offer no such resolution and depict sites in which the disaster is either unstoppable or growing or the evidence of social recovery marks its own disaster of forgetting.”
Buzz Burtynsky shoots the soon-to-be submerged cities above the Three Gorges Dam project on the Yangtze River in China as they are systematically destroyed. McMillan’s Chernobyl pictures document the deterioration of infrastructure and the surprising return of nature. Best of all is the rare appearance in Toronto of Tsuchida’s methodical meditations on the slowly disappearing trees and buildings that survived the bombing of Hiroshima.
Faith bases
Who Robert Burley
Where/When Eric Arthur Gallery (230 College) until May 21. 416-978-5038.
What Instruments of Faith: Toronto’s First Synagogues
Why “These buildings have fascinating social histories, and I’m surprised at how few of them are left. Of the more than 30 synagogues that were active (south of St. Clair) in 1930, only the six included in my exhibition are still active today. As these remaining buildings near the 100-year mark, the surrounding neighbourhoods are undergoing dramatic changes.”
Buzz The photographs of synagogue exteriors superbly situate these buildings in their surrounding neighbourhoods in timeless black-and-white. Inside, the formal shots reveal places of worship – though without any people in them – and capture the artifacts of Jewish liturgy.
Upcoming Burley’s currently finishing off a project on the Great Lakes that will show at Stephen Bulger Gallery in 2006.
