For 25 years, the annual Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival has been showcasing image-based projects by Canadian and international artists in order to foster the art and profession of photography.

This year, Photographers Without Borders (PWB) asked its membership to reimagine the past, present and future, and to imagine new destinations and horizons as storytellers. In a challenging time in our collective history, there's widespread questioning about entrenched aspects of our society. There are calls for new, fresh perspectives to create a world that's braver, more caring and just.

For the following photographers featured in PWB’s virtual installation, the everyday is re-imagined. Each image reframes commonplace moments and things ordinarily taken for granted to crystalize them as endearingly more precious. They remind the viewer that staying in the now and showing wonder for the present—without revisiting the past or fretting about the future—is in itself an act of courage and a source of strength.

Ben Garcia

Ben Garcia is a multiracial, queer documentary and street photographer based in Edmonton who elevates the non-human subject to produce abstract portraiture that's full of life.

“In an effort to stimulate my creativity in pandemic times, I turned to abstract photography. Playfully reimagining and reinterpreting my reality allowed me to get out of my head to create this photograph and the corresponding series. “ - Ben Garcia

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Jeff Mikkelson

Jeff Mikkelson is a New York-based editorial and advertising photographer. His treatment of a student hurrying to class in the rural village Bugene in Karagwe, Tanzania takes the mundane and transforms it into heightened drama—from the motion of the student, to the gaze of the impatient teacher.

A student hurries to class in the rural village of Bugene in Karagwe, Tanzania. Students at the Bugene Secondary School benefit from financial education courses sponsored by the local NGO KARUDECA, in parnership with SBFIC East Africa. - Jeff Mikkel… — A student hurries to class in the rural village of Bugene in Karagwe, Tanzania. Students at the Bugene Secondary School benefit from financial education courses sponsored by the local NGO KARUDECA, in parnership with SBFIC East Africa. - Jeff Mikkelson on Assignment with Photographers Without Borders

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Jodi Sware

Jodi Sware is a portrait photographer living on a farm in Northern Alberta who has photographed approximately 100 couples for her personal project “Wisdom of Marriage.”

“ I see this couple reimagining their marriage as well as who they are as they move out of parenthood and into being grandparents and soon great grandparents. They are easing out of hard, hard work and transitioning into retirement as their children are working towards taking over their family farm ... although I'm sure there will never be a true retirement for this hard working couple.” - Jodi Sware

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Kelly Schovanek

Kelly Schovanek is a Canmore, Alberta and Victoria, British Columbia-based documentary photographer who gives the daredevil boys in Stone Town, Zanzibar a larger-than-life quality with this sharply outlined shot.

Every night in Stone town, Zanzibar, the local boys put on a show at the oceans edge. In groups they launch themselves off the 15ft stone walls, performing tricks and dives as they fly through the air into the water. Some make it look good, others flail. Its all a wild spectacle to witness. - Kelly Schovanek

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Marguerite Gallorini

Marguerite Gallorini is a bilingual journalist and news producer born and raised in France and currently based in Toronto. She frames a bird's eye-view with this intimate snapshot of a sparrow enjoying a moment of repose.

“On one snowy day, this little bird stood out by staying on the balcony and looking out, similarly to me stuck in my apartment during quarantine. But just like the bird knowing it can fly out whenever it chooses, I knew I was not going to be stuck forever.” - Marguerite Gallorini

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Steven Weisz

Steven Weisz is an educator, a community builder and the founder of PhiladelphiaDANCE.org and the Dance Journal. Weisz's portrait celebrates a moment of synchronicity. Artist, acrobat and aerialist, Nicole Burgio's ability to embody power and grace while maintaining a literal balancing act is reflected in Weisz's own experience behind the camera.