December 23, 2008 marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Yousuf Karsh, widely recognized as Canada's leading portrait photographer of the 20th century.

To celebrate this milestone, the Portrait Gallery of Canada (PGC), a program of Library and Archives Canada, in collaboration with the Canada Science and Technology Museum (CSTM), will present a series of events and activities in 2009.

Festival Karsh will include a trail of locations significant to Mr. Karsh's life and work, a major exhibition at the CSTM, a Karsh website and a roster of special events and programming. After its showing at the Museum, the exhibition will be available to galleries and museums nationally and internationally until 2012.

Share your Karsh images and stories!

Festival Karsh is a collaborative undertaking that explores Yousuf Karsh as a storyteller. You are invited to share the Karsh portraits in your family and to tell us your own stories.

Engaging images and stories may be included in the major Karsh exhibition which will open at the Canada Science and Technology Museum in June 2009. Or perhaps you would like to add your original portrait to the national portrait collection!

How to Participate in My Karsh

1) If you already have a Flickr account, add your image and story to the My Karsh Flickr.com Group. Or,

2) Use email to send your scanned image and story to mykarsh@technomuses.ca. The administrator will add them to the My Karsh Flickr group. Or,

3 Contact the Portrait Gallery of Canada at (613) 944-1741, or send an email to us at portraits@lac-bac.gc.ca. A staff member will contact you to find out more about your personal Karsh image and story.

Also related...

Flickr.com – My Karsh Group
[http://www.flickr.com/groups/mykarsh-monkarsh/]

General Information: (613) 991-3044.

Media Contact: Kelly Ray
613 949-5732
kray@technomuses.ca