Aurora Through the Archives is multi-location photo exhibition
Aurora will be a photographer’s dream through June 30 as multiple venues across the community come together to host the 2024 CONTACT Photography Festival.
Running through June 30, Aurora Through the Archives showcases archival images from the 1870s through to the 1980s and is spread out through Hillary House National Historic Site, outside the Aurora Armoury at Mosley and Larmont Streets, and within the Royal Rose Gallery on Yonge Street, just south of Wellington.
“The exhibition is a collaboration between the Aurora Museum & Archives, Aurora Armoury, Hillary House National Historic Site, Royal Rose Gallery, Maddison Dearlove-Marshall, Amanda Jenkins, and Sophie Langille, who are Master of Museum Studies students from the University of Toronto,” says the Town.
“The CONTACT Photography Festival is based in Toronto and has grown since 1997 to become one of the world’s largest photography festivals, attracting as many as 1.5 million people a year in venues and public places across Canada’s most populated cities.”
This is Aurora’s first entry to the Festival and showcases public and private spaces within our community.
“At each location, visitors are treated to an exploration of archival and reproduction images of Aurora dating from 1850s – 1980s,” say organizers. “Journey through the lens of archival photography to delve into Aurora’s past, presented in modern-day public spaces and local businesses. This is a uniquely immersive exploration of the Town of Aurora.”
In addition to the three historic venues, contemporary photography is also in the spotlight at the Skylight Gallery on the third floor of Town Hall on John West Way.
On now, through June 3, the Gallery is host to Sean Stone’s photographic exhibition, “Window on the World.”
“As a lover of travel, Sean Stone has had the good fortune to have travelled around the world and record some of the beauty that he has found, both in distant locations as well as across Canada,” say organizers. “Especially after a pandemic-length lockdown, he thinks the need to see beyond one’s own city has never been felt more acutely.
“This exhibition reminds viewers of the wonders that await us outside one’s hometown. So come on a visual adventure with Stone, from Alaska to Australia, from Newfoundland to Morocco. It’s a fascinating, beautiful world out there.”
For more information on Aurora’s contributions to the Festival, visit www.aurora.ca/en/Museum/contact-photography-festival.aspx. For more on CONTACT, head over to contactphoto.com.
Brock Weir, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Auroran
