Photo: contactphoto on Instagram 

For photography buffs in the Toronto area, the annual Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival officially launched on May 1 and officially runs until May 31. This year marks the 20^th anniversary of the annual festival, which features the works of Canadian and international artists, documentary photographers and photojournalists.

For 2016, the CONTACT Festival features a series of lectures, street exhibitions, panels and performances. On May 5, Minneapolis-based photographer Alec Soth is set to give a talk at the Arsenal Toronto art gallery. Soth will be exploring the artistic theme of Hypnagogia, which aims to find a link between wakefulness and sleep.

Meanwhile, the Mississauga Bus Tour on May 5 offers a free bus ride which travels from the Gladstone Hotel in downtown Toronto to the Art Gallery of Mississauga. Guests can take a closer look at the opening of the Canadian Belonging(s) exhibit, which explores concepts of colonialism and national identity.

Photo: contactphoto on Instagram 

For a glimpse of travel photography, visitors can always drop by the We’ll get there fast and then we’ll take it slow exhibit at the Gallery 44 Centre for Contemporary Photography. Named after lyrics from the 1988 Beach Boys song Kokomo, this exhibit features the work of Toronto photographer Kotama Bouabane. The exhibition focuses on a concept of tropical escape, and uses coconuts as a major theme.

The festival is also set to offer a variety of public installations. Multimedia artist Mickalene Thomas tackles issues surrounding race, femininity and beauty, with an emphasis on black women of various shapes and sizes.

Photo: contactphoto on Instagram 

Titled “What it Means to be Beautiful”, this month-long Canadian exhibit will be featured on billboards at Front Street West and Spadina Avenue in Toronto. It is also set to make a splash in other Canadian cities, including Calgary, Edmonton and Halifax.

Along with emerging and renowned Canadian artists who work behind the camera lens, American names like Los Angeles-based Davida Nemeroff will also be part of the festival. Nemeroff’s new featured exhibition, Connective Tissues, runs from May 13 to June 4. Based on her photography book Muscles, the images showcase horses from the Hawaiian island of Lanai.

Whether you are interested in travel photography, portraits of animals or images that challenge the norms of beauty, it looks like the CONTACT Photography Festival just may offer unique images to suit everyone’s tastes.