Image Arts alumni to showcase exhibit as part of the Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival
In conjunction with this year’s city-wide Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival (external link, opens in new window) , Ryerson University’s Artspace Gallery (external link, opens in new window) is honoured to present the work of two recent Image Arts alumni. Featuring emerging Toronto-based photographers Tommy Calderon and Durga Rajah (external link, opens in new window) , Fixations: Thoughts on Time explores conceptions of time in relation to photography. Using darkroom techniques, both artists engage the ways in which time is related to constructing and preserving an image, physically, psychologically, and culturally. The exhibit will open in advance of the festival on April 6th and run during the month-long event in May.
Self-portrait by Tommy Calderon.
Image courtesy Tommy Calderon
‘A Measure of Time: 3 Seconds’ raises questions of time in the photographic process. Image courtesy Durga Rajah
While measured time is objective, the experience of time is something personal
“The Artspace Gallery is an intrinsic part of the Image Arts ecosystem at the University, giving students and alumni the chance to showcase their work beyond campus,” says School of Image Arts Chair, Robert Ott. “CONTACT Festival increases this exposure to a wide and diverse audience celebrating the contributions our students and alumni make to Canada's visual culture experience. Recognition is an important ingredient to the success of emerging artists and our relationship with CONTACT Festival aligns our immense talent.”
The perception of time and photographic practice
While the artists were not aiming to make work about the pandemic, this exciting photographic exhibit touches on the intangibility of time, a topic relevant to many experiencing the prolonged impacts of pandemic restrictions on our sense of time and memory.
The pandemic has affected all aspects of life including our perception of time. The perception of time passage has been profoundly varied and disorienting for many people as our routines were altered, our life experiences minimised, and our social interactions restricted, in particular during quarantine when our days became more indistinguishable and time seemed to slow down.
What the artists seek to explore is how an image can trace an estranged or distorted sense of time in a new era of meaning-making.
Durga Rajah's A Measure of Time: 3 Seconds anticipates a future moment that will come to pass. By leaving her photographs unfixed in controlled intervals and continuously exposed to the environment and light, viewers will be able to see the changing nature of an image in constant development.
“While measured time is objective, the experience of time is something personal,” says Rajah. “I believe this show opens up the conversation to this dynamic and asks one to consider the structures and sensibilities of time in their own life.”
A Measure of Time: 3 Seconds, vii, 2020. Image courtesy Durga Rajah
Tommy Calderon's investigative series entitled Dialectics reflects his attempt to grasp one's constantly shifting position within the world. “I am interested in how time is a force that changes the experience of self. Our upcoming show is important not only for myself as an emerging artist, but for all parties involved since it showcases a critical approach to image-making we have developed right here at X University,” says Calderon. By using historical photographic processes, he questions how image-making creates a sense of time within histories of meaning.
“It's always an honour for Artspace to participate in the Contact Photography Festival, especially with such strong alumni from the Photography program,” says gallery manager Joshua Vettivelu. “In the past few years we have experienced a tremendous amount of change, whether it be from the pandemic or rapidly shifting political realities. I think this exhibition will strike a chord with those of us who are experiencing a newfound awareness of how time passes.”
Artspace joins city-wide arts event
The CONTACT Photography Festival is a nationally recognized photography festival that showcases the best in Canadian photography in locations across the Greater Toronto Area, reaching an audience of over 1.5 million people and runs all month long in May. CONTACT presents work by a diversity of acclaimed and emerging artists, documentary photographers, and photojournalists.
Programmed by the School of Image Arts (opens in new window) , Artspace Gallery’s mandate is to provide a venue for contemporary Canadian emerging artists, tasked with providing an unparalleled opportunity for Ryerson students and alumni to gain recognition in the Toronto arts community.
This exhibition is supported by the Ontario Arts Council and the Society of the Creative School.
For more information in this exciting exhibit please see below or visit https://www.ryersonartspace.com/ (external link, opens in new window)
Fixations: Thoughts on Time | Durga Rajah & Tommy Calderon
In conjunction with CONTACT Photography Festival, 2022
Curated by Kelsey Myler & Christina Oyawale
Exhibition: April 6 - May 28, 2022
Gallery Hours: Wed - Sat 1 - 6pm
Opening Reception: May 5, 2022, 6:30 - 9:30 pm
The Creative School at Ryerson University
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