Vistek is a proud sponsor of The Toronto Urban Photography Festival (TUPF). TUPF is a grassroots, not-for-profit event run completely by volunteers. It’s comprised of free walks, talks, workshops, and exhibitions. The Festival’s mission is to create a network of photographers and visual urbanists to critically look at the society we live in through the medium of photography and visual practices and where we all benefit from the free exchange of information.

This year’s theme, CommUnity, is all about common unity—as one of our exhibiting photographers, Marco Caterini has said. Toronto is a palimpsest of communities: comprised of many smaller communities—Chinatown, The Junction, Malvern to name a few, a community in and of itself, and a community that is part of the larger global community. At a time when Toronto is plagued with political scandal, and the world is rife with instability—economic, political, spiritual, it’s nice to be reminded of the commonalities that humans have, rather than being bombarded with our differences that separate us. Community is all about how together people can accomplish more than if they try to achieve for only themselves. TUPF is in and of itself a community with many parts contributing to make the whole. Events are aimed at bridging the divide between amateur and prosumer (and maybe even professional), digital and analogue, and teacher and student.

The two opening weekend exhibitions—Building Giants and Humans of Toronto—exemplify the CommUnity theme both in the meta-narrative of who is participating and in the content of the exhibitions. Building Giants showcases work from artists all over the world including Italy, Korea, UK, USA, and Canada. The photographs bring together a deeper understanding of the theme of CommUnity within the context of the urban, while at the same time showcasing technically sound images—images that not only have a story, but are part of the story of the communities they come from. The Humans of Toronto exhibition shows the Toronto Community one picture and one story at a time. We will also be projecting images of the TUPF Couch and Friends With Strangers Project at Black Cat Gallery the night of and during the festival.

Festival Opening Night Gala

June 27, 6-11pm – 918 Gallery (918 Bathurst St.)