CONTACT Photography Festival is an annual citywide event spanning May 2026. CONTACT is the Toronto-based Festival dedicated to exhibiting, analyzing, and celebrating photography and lens-based media. The Festival provides numerous opportunities to experience a diverse range of exhibitions across greater Toronto, with hundreds of events including openings, artist talks, workshops, portfolio reviews, the CONTACT Photobook Fair, and more, sparking community engagement and nurturing an appreciation of contemporary lens-based practices.
Over the last 30 years, CONTACT has achieved some very impressive figures, through its engagement with artists and the community. The Festival has attracted over 20 million visitors and presented the work of over 8500 artists. CONTACT has produced over 4500 exhibitions, 200 public art projects, and over 2000 free public programs.
The 2026 Core Program of Exhibitions and Public Art Installations, developed both by CONTACT and through partnerships with local and international organizations, highlights projects by exceptional Canadian and international artists. This year, the featured lens-based and mixed-media artists employ practices variously incorporating themes of decolonization, community-building, activism, protest, and revolution. Several work in collage and photomontage processes to address personal and collective memory, displacement and migration, diasporic experiences, queer realities, and world-building. Select artists also explore gaps in historical and contemporary archives and embrace a return to experimentation from the medium’s earlier days and applying them to contemporary concerns.
This year’s Core Program artists include: Shannon Bool, Ernesto Cabral de Luna, Bob Carnie, Kristi Chen, Delali Cofie, Marlene Creates, Dylan Dae-Shin, Larry Fink, Tim Georgeson, Mickey Green, Hassan Hajjaj, Alex Hall, Leala Hewak, April Hickox, Risa Horowitz, Spring Hurlbut, Philip Jessup, Aaron Jones, Marie-Claude Lacroix, Parker Lily, Lilly Lulay, Alvin Luong, Arnaud Maggs, Robert Mapplethorpe, Caroline Mauxion, Marzieh M. Miri, Marlene Hilton Moore, Sophia Oppel, Lu Pan, Celia Perrin Sidarous, Dawit L. Petros, Yann Pocreau, Kenna Robinson, Gabe Seamon, Jessica Slipp, Sheida Soleimani, Adam Swica, Ho Tam, Anouk Vervier, Sin Wai Kin, Bo Wang, Yujie Wang, and Ian Wilms.
Image (L to R):
1. Alex Hall, Flowers in Purple and Yellow, 2025. Courtesy of the artist
2. Kenna Robinson, With My Whole Body 02, 2024. Courtesy of the artist
3. Ernesto Cabral de Lun, Para Damas, 2025. Courtesy of the Artist and Blouin Division
4. Hassan Hajjaj, Orthodox, from the series La Salle de Gym des Femmes Arabes, 2011/1432. Courtesy of the artist
5. Ian Willms, from the series The Hound, 2013–2020. Courtesy of the artist and Towards Gallery
6. April Hickox, Untitled – Vantage Point Series, nd. Courtesy of the artist
7. Ho Tam, Lesson No. 14, from the series Lessons, 2000. Courtesy of the artist
