The tradition of an annual Third Year Show in the School of Image Arts developed after the establishment of an off-campus exhibition space in the downtown Toronto arts district. Panoptic, the fourteenth annual exhibition of third year work, continued and expanded this tradition, both through the exhibition itself and via the accompanying catalog.

According to the catalog introduction, the 2015 exhibition

…presents a collective portrayal of the human subject in the work of some 50 third year photography students…. From documentary to abstraction, these works explore self and other, interpreting human conditions through various lenses, resulting in a multitude of responses initiated by one concept.

By delving into multiple aspects of humanity—the physical body, emotional and psychological states, social and cultural mores and relationships—this collective body of work reflects the human subject back to each of us regardless of our circumstances or backgrounds.

The exhibition was installed in the Gallery Level of the Elgin and Winter Garden Theatre in Toronto, a new exhibition venue whose dimensions presented both new opportunities and new challenges. Forms that emerged included grids, typologies, sequences and multiple or hybrid images, as well as constructed imagery and photo sculpture. In turn, themes developed that emphasized the power of abstraction, dramatization and symbolism, photographic narratives, and issues of expression, figure and environment.

Catalog Design: Petrija Dos Santos and Khristel Stecher

Copy Editing: Katy McCormick

Thanks to Katy McCormick, Hilary Roche and Michael Kim