Photo Festival Features Italian Architecture, Toronto Streets

The annual Contact Toronto Photography Festival starts tomorrow, with more than 500 artists showing their work across the city under the umbrella theme of "Between Memory and History." Reading the exhibition guide can be overwhelming—Contact is dubbed the largest photography event in the world—but there's some comfort knowing the festival runs through the whole month of May. It's also a great opportunity to check out venues, because along with galleries, exhibitions are shown at cafés, bars, stores, museums, and hotels across the city.

Lynn Huntley Wyczolkowski's photos in "Fragrance" (curated by Monica Vaes) are a series of brightly coloured, close-up floral compositions that use natural light and are meant to evoke a multisensory experience. Jason Ramsay's "Memory Is an Ancient City" exhibition can be viewed with cappuccino in hand at B Espresso Bar and features photos of Venice that explore and question the nature of memory.For some local flavour, Don Snyder curates Hamish Robertson's photos of downtown Toronto streets after midnight in "Noir Architecture," taken with no flash and fast film and accompanied by poetry. And at the eco-friendly clothing store Green Is Black, five photographers document Toronto's Week of Style (an annual fashion and marketing event) in "Pop/Eye: The Fashion/Culture Matrix." The festival's free wrap party takes place May 29 at the Drake Hotel.