exposure PHOTOGRAPHY FESTIVAL 2024 ANNOUNCEMENT

Exposure’s curated exhibitions, the International Open Call and Emerging Photographers Showcase, will be hosted at Contemporary Calgary (February 2 – March 3), a significant visual arts destination dedicated to modern and contemporary art. The exhibitions present a broad range of works, including photocollage, conceptual photography, politically engaged practices and works that embrace social and individual experience, as well as visual explorations of identity and personal narratives. 

The Exposure 2024 International Open Call exhibition will feature the work of photographers and visual artists based around the world who incorporate, celebrate, or challenge the photographic medium within their practices. Selected by the Exposure Team and Lillian O'Brien Davis, curator and writer based in Toronto, the exhibition will present the works of contemporary practitioners based in Brazil, Canada, Ethiopia, Morocco, Slovakia, United Kingdom, and United States.

The Exposure 2024 Emerging Photographers Showcase celebrates the rich talent of early-career practitioners who are based in the province. Selected by the Exposure Team and Janine Windolph (Atikamekw/Woodland Cree), Director of Indigenous Arts at Banff Centre Arts and Creativity, the exhibition provides an insight into our dynamic and growing community of fine art photographers here in the region.   

The Exposure 2023 Emerging Photographer of the Year award exhibition will also be hosted at Contemporary Calgary (February 2 – March 3). This prestigious award provides an Alberta-based emerging artist with a platform to show their work while furthering their professional practice. Exposure’s Festival Manager, Beth Kane, mentors and supports the artist in developing their vision in the best possible way. Selected by Tiffany Jones, Publisher of Overlapse, the award recipient Elyse Longair will be presenting a solo collage exhibition during the 2024 festival. 

For the seventh consecutive year, Exposure has brought the Flash Forward Incubator Program to Alberta, in partnership with the Toronto-based The Magenta Foundation. The Flash Forward Incubator Program exhibition will feature the work of students from the 2023/24 participating schools: Westmount Charter School in Calgary and Eastglen School in Edmonton.

Exposure Fence: People & Place, is an outdoor exhibition at Calgary’s Olympic Plaza, presented in partnership with Chinook Blast. Curated by Beth Kane, People & Place presents the work of visual artists based in Treaty 6 and 7 territories, also known as Southern Alberta. The work and perspectives of this dynamic group of exhibiting artists provide us with both celebratory and critical visual insights regarding the complex, intertwined relationships between people and place within these traditional territories. In addition to activating public space in Calgary’s downtown core, the exhibition promotes wider understandings and increased access to the art of photography and visual storytelling, amplifying impactful narratives and connecting artists to a wide audience.

Exposure continues to provide innovative ways for Calgarians to engage with the arts and in partnership with Pattison Outdoor Advertising, Exposure will present a public showcase of the work of 30 local and international artists and photographers. Exposure Billboard will be hosted on a digital billboard located at Macleod Trail & 9 Ave SE (February 5 – February 11). 

The Exposure events programme will continue to provide opportunities to learn, participate, connect, and celebrate photography. For 2024, the festival will host EXPOSURE CONVERSATIONS a new 3-part event series that explores topics impacting our society and responds to Exposure’s curated exhibitions. These informal events will be held at Contemporary Calgary and will include Conversations with Newcomer Artists, on the Family Archive and Healing Through the Arts.

Exposure will again be hosting its annual Portfolio Review. This professional development event provides a unique opportunity to present photographic work to some of the most influential leading professionals in photography worldwide—from curators to practitioners, editors to educators. The 2024 event will take place on Saturday 10 February (online) and Saturday 24 February (Taylor Institute for Teaching and Learning, University of Calgary). 

The Exposure 2024 exhibition programme encompasses over 20 shows including group and solo exhibitions and diverse curatorial themes that audiences can engage with in arts and non-arts spaces throughout the province. Venues include The Alberta Society of Artists, Alberta University of the Arts (AUArts), ART HUB, Big Metal Prints, Canmore Art Guild, Christine Klassen Gallery, Crowsnest Pass Public Art Gallery, cSPACE Marda Loop, Dandy Brewing Company, Esker Foundation, Framed on Fifth, Herringer Kiss Gallery, Red Deer Museum + Art Gallery, Sparrow Artspace, Studio 12, Three Sisters Gallery, Visual College of Art and Design (VCAD), The Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies, Wild Skies Art Gallery and Willock & Sax Gallery.

For more information on the 2024 Exposure Photography Festival, check back on our website in January and keep up to date with news via our Instagram.