Alberta’s Photography February Festival at Contemporary Calgary
Review by Arshdeep Kaur
Photography has a way of making us pause, perhaps because photos are literally us paused in frames. Frozen moments. Stories in Stillness. Exposure is Alberta’s photography festival that brings this magic to us and celebrates photographers who capture fleeting moments in their lenses. Exposure is held annually in February for a month, and showcases emerging and established artists to push the boundaries of visual storytelling. At the Contemporary Calgary gallery, the exhibitions, which run to March 6, invite visitors to challenge perceptions and invite self-reflection. The Festival is divided into three main exhibitions.
Artists in the International Open Call have been selected by juror Liz Ikiriko, highlighting a diverse group of photographers from around the world. The selected works explore identity, time, space and role of photography in contemporary art. Anton Bou (Montreal, Quebec) is a self-taught photographer and a clinical psychologist who presented the work that exists in the space between reality and dreams. His images play with surrealism, featuring figures lost in landscapes, their faces obscured – challenging ideas of identity and existence. I also felt a very apocalyptic and alienating vibe from his photos. Bou’s project statement reads like a poetic riddle: “Hold a balloon before your head. Reach the pink lakes and the blue volcanoes. Provide the sun with a base. Lose your visage in the ocean, and unlearn in order to be.” He plays with the idea that what we see might not be the full picture, nudging us toward the unknown.
Madeleine Brunnmeirer (Berlin, Germany) is another artist from this exhibition that stood out to me. Her work Gestalten is a project that turns people into temporary sculptures by layering them in all their possessions of clothing. Clothing, she argues, is more than just fabric – it’s “a mirror of the interior and a boundary to the outside world.” The photos are both humourous and thought provoking. They highlight how we shape our clothes and in turn how they shape us. Her work blurs the lines between body, identity, and material culture, making us reconsider what we carry with us and why.
The Emerging Photographers Showcase features rising talents from Alberta, British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Yukon, and the Northwest Territories. The provinces other than Alberta have been added this year to expand the festival. The curator, Naomi Potter, selected a space where fresh voices in photography take centre stage to offer new perspective on the world. Alexis McKeown (Canmore, Alberta) captures self-portraits influenced by classical paintings and her ballet training. Her project centers around an intimate, often painful, investigation of her relationship with food and body image. “I love food, but I don’t think I’m supposed to.” This statement hit home for me and I think for many women who often have love-hate relationship with eating. Her photos present the modern struggles and personal conflicts in a very elegant and visually stunning way.
Stasia Schmidt (Calgary, Alberta) is the Emerging Photographer of the Year 2024, and presents Ephemerality, the third key exhibition at the gallery. Her images, featuring ghostly female figures in vast natural landscapes, symbolize both presence and erasure. It feels like a reminder that feminine energy has always existed in these spaces, even if history tries to erase it. There’s something deeply poetic about her approach where the ghostly femininity invites us to be there with her. The ghostly figure in all the images feels like it’s part of the landscape while longing to belong in it.
Each photograph tells a story, but the best part? You get to decide what that story is. Some images feel deeply relatable, while others challenge perspectives, pushing us to see the world differently. Unlike paintings, which often require historical or cultural context to be fully understood, photography feels immediate and visceral. A single image can evoke emotion, tell a story, or challenge perceptions without the need for explanation. That doesn’t mean context is irrelevant—just that photography often invites a deeply personal interpretation.
If you love photography, storytelling, or just want to see something thought-provoking, Exposure 2025 is the place to be.
Beyond Contemporary Calgary, the festival extends to various locations across the city. While you’re at the Contemporary, you must also see Rajni Perera & Marigold Santos: Efflorescence/The Way We Wake, which runs until April 6 – a haunting yet warm exhibition.
Exposure 2025 (until Mar 6)
Contemporary Calgary
701 11 St SW, Calgary
403-770-1350
Wed – Sat: 12pm – 7 pm
Sun: 12 pm – 5 pm
(closed Mon, Tues)
