Julya Hajnoczky is a contemporary artist based in Calgary. Equipped with a camper and workspace known as the Al Fresco Science Machine, she has explored numerous Canadian ecosystems from Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park in Alberta to the Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve in British Columbia and Wood Buffalo National Park in the Northwest Territories.

The Prefix Prize includes a solo exhibition at Toronto’s Contact Photography Festival. See it at Urbanspace Gallery through July 27.

Nika Belianina, a mid-career artist, photographer and seasoned filmmaker, brings a surrealist twist to her cinematic photography with her exhibition ‘Enchanted Journeys of Desire’, as part of the 2024 Contact Photography Festival (go to her exhibition works here)

Through movement and predominantly in-camera techniques, Belianina creates characters full of magic and cinematic mystery, festival notes say.

She is represented by Abbozzo Gallery in Toronto, where the solo exhibition takes place through June 1. Below, from the gallery’s Instagram, a look behind the scenes ar Belianina’s cinematic process in the making of ‘Magnitude’ – a tribute to the incredible magnitude of nature and a recognition that there are forces beyond our power.

Nika Belianina’s website here.

About Nika Belianina here.

These bodies of water spread out like veins across the landscape, and I walk along or wade through them at night with a heightened sense of awareness that comes when one finds themselves alone in the dark. –Artist Statement

A companion series – called Sublevels – was featured in the just ended  Contact Photo Festival, examining the sewers of Toronto and Montreal.  More on Emond’s website, here.

Genesis is an eight year photographic expedition traveling to 32 locations around the planet, showcasing over two hundred hauntingly beautiful and provocative photographs aspiring to share the raw beauty of the landscapes, seascapes and people that have escaped the destructive reach of modern society. (Above: Nenets of the Siberian Arctic, Russia) -ROM exhibition notes.

The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in northeastern Alaska

Baobab trees. Bay of Moramba. Madagascar

Salgado calls the project his love letter to the planet.  There’s also a major (huge) book for the project.

The world premiere of Genesis was in London at the Natural History Museum April 9. In addition to the Royal Ontario Museum show, the Nicholas Metivier Gallery in Toronto is also exhibiting Salgado’s work, through May 25.

Born in Brazil in 1944, Salgado has worked in the medium of photography since 1973, covering major news events  and pursuing in-depth documentary projects. He has traveled to over 100 countries, including some of the most remote places on earth. Salgado refers to his style as “inside the circle,” often living with his subjects for weeks.

Related articles

• In the Beginnings: Sebastião Salgado’s Genesis (lightbox.time.com)