LEADER
Wendy O’Brien is a philosopher and avid reader. With over 30 years’ experience teaching in post-secondary education, she’s given talks and led seminars on creativity, beauty and wonder as responses to the existential crises of our times. Working at the intersection of philosophy, literature and the visual arts she has offered seminars and talks at Humber College, Oxford University, Harvard, The Art Gallery of Ontario, The Women’s Art Association, Classical Pursuits and the Toronto International Festival of Authors. In 2020 she retired from academe to focus her attention on The Wonder Project, a long-term investigation into the concept of wonder and its relation to artistic excellence, natural beauty and scientific discoveries.
READINGS
On Photography by Susan Sontag
(Picador, 2001)
ISBN-13: 978-0312420093
Camera Lucida by Roland Barthes
(Hill and Wang, 2010)
ISBN-13: 978-0374532338
Ways of Seeing by John Berger
(Penguin, 1990)
ISBN-13:978-0140135152
SEMINAR OVERVIEW
We are the once and future citizens of visual culture. From cave walls to the screens on our smartphones, we have tried to picture the world around us and the world within with increasing regularity and specificity.
What is it about the photograph, in particular that, keeps us clicking? What do we hope to capture? What do we hope to find?
In this seminar we will explore the power and the possibility of photography through the writings of such theorists as Benjamin, Sontag and Dyer and through the practice of photographers such as Cameron, Cartier-Bresson, Doisneau, Lange, and Salgado. Our goal will be to better see what is captured in the image and what went in to its creation.
This seminar includes an afternoon excursion to either the Art Gallery of Ontario or the Ryerson Image Centre, in addition to the morning seminar hours. We will have more details in spring 2026.
TORONTO PURSUITS 2026 PRICING
The registration cost for this seminar is C$1880. It is priced differently from other morning seminars because it includes an excursion in addition to the five seminar sessions. All seminars are C$75 off through 11:59 p.m. Eastern, January 3, 2026. Sale prices are automatically applied.
All orders placed by 11:59 p.m. Eastern, January 3, 2026, also get a complimentary Toronto Summer Music Festival ticket. Participants who register after January 3 can purchase a concert ticket at our group rate, typically around C$80. The concert we will be attending will be announced in early spring 2026.
Bring a new friend and save even more! Take $100 off your registration for every new friend you bring to Toronto Pursuits. Your friend also saves $100 on their registration. Choose your discount from the dropdown menu based on the number of friends who also plan to register, and let us know your friend’s name in the order notes.
The fine print: To get the bring-a-friend discount, your friend must not have registered for any previous Toronto Pursuits seminar in any year. Your friend must register by May 31, 2026, or Classical Pursuits will apply the nondiscounted price to your final payment. Limit one $100 discount per participant for being referred as a new friend. For example, if person A brings new friend B, person C cannot also claim friend B for the bring-a-friend discount. If friend B brings new friend D, friend B qualifies for $100 discount for being a new referral, and an additional $100 for referring new friend D. Classical Pursuits reserves the right to make all decisions about discount eligibility.
Toronto Pursuits 2026
See the Toronto Pursuits 2026 page for full details on the program schedule, health and safety, booking your accommodations, terms and conditions, and more.
