Dancing in the streets. Pride 2022.
Photos from Dyke March 2022
This year’s CONTACT Photography Festival showcases the work of a few photographers who focus on portraits. Two of these, Tyler Mitchell and Jorian Charlton, are shown here.
First, on the west side of Spadina near King Street is this large portrait:
It is “Georgia” by Jorian Charlton, a Toronto based photographer whose works centers around Jamaican-Canadians and their culture. There is also an exhibit of her work titled “Out of Many” at the Art Gallery of Ontario that can be seen until 7 Aug 2022.
Nearby is a series of portraits by American photographer Tyler Mitchell (b. 1995) is on display on King Street West by Metro Hall. This is “Cultural Turns”.
There are actually three parts to this exhibition. Unfortunately I do not have photos of the other parts but they are billboards at Dovercourt and Dupont as well as an indoor component at the CONTACT Gallery.
below: Part of a large relief sculpture on the wall of the northwest entrance to Dundas subway station of life sized figures on their way – Terra cotta artwork by William McElcheran from 2015.
below: Ryerson Image Centre,
There is a photography exhibit outside the Ryerson Image Centre showcasing three winners of the New Generation Photography Award, Chris Donovan, Dustin Bron, and Curtiss Randolph.
below: ‘Boy in the Window’ by Chris Donovan
below: A second, “Objects in Mirror” also by Chris Donovan
below: ‘AC 2019’ by Dustin Brons
below: ‘Horizon 2017’ by Curtiss Randolph. First in a short series involving a staged drama at this intersection.
below: The statue of Egerton Ryerson is gone. There is graffiti on the walls where the statue once stood.
below: On the Bond Street side of the Ryerson building is another photography exhibit. This is Maximum Exposure 26, an annual exhibit of pictures by Ryerson’s School of Image Arts students. There are 28 very diverse photos included here.
below: Food Pantry. Take what you need; Donate what you can.
below: In the alley behind the Lutheran church and Ryerson.
below: Peace, hearts and respect written on the green bike.
below: The old white building on the northeast corner of Victoria and Dundas is still there and the mural by Emily May Rose with its cute raccoons survives. If only the real raccoons were as lovable!
below: Looking east on Dundas. There is talk of renaming Dundas Street.
below: Yonge Dundas Square is now filled with hearts. There are pink heart shaped seats to sit on and pink hearts on the ground too. Each heart on the pavement has something about Toronto to love – street art, endless streets to explore, the Jays, great architecture, always changing, and more.
below: Keep looking up!
below: Another part of a large relief sculpture on the wall of Dundas subway station
Because of COVID, the annual ‘Winter Stations’ art installation at Woodbine beach was cancelled. Instead, there is ‘Spring Stations’ now showing at two locations including at the Distillery District.
below: “The Epitonium’ by Iranian design team of Mojtaba Anoosha, as well as M., Shahed, Elaheh, and Alemeh Yenglabad. It looks like a large sea snail has landed in the Distillery District.
below: ‘ARc de Blob’ created by Austrian and UK team Aleksandra Belitskaja, Ben James and Shaun McCallum.
below: ‘From Small Beginnings’ by Jack and Charlie Leather behind the red heart. The original design called for small spruce seedlings growing on the timbers.
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It’s late December and the Christmas season is upon us. The winter solstice has arrived with its short day light hours… If you can call the greyness of today “day light”.
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Like Decembers past, The Bay has installed holiday displays in some of their windows. Unlike past years, there are no elves or Santa, or even any human form. The robots have taken over and everything has been automated.
The elves have been kidnapped? Or just sickened with Covid. We’ll probably never know (does Siri know?) but it seems rather fiendish and cold to remove the “human touch” in a year where we’re all 2 metres apart and not hugging anybody.
Stay warm
Stay safe
And may your Christmas be as bright as possible.
Another COVID cancellation is the Christmas Market at the Distillery District. This year’s offering is “Winter village”, a down scaled version of past years’ festivities.
The lights are up, the tree is gorgeous, and the atmosphere is almost Christmas-y.
I’m going to say that I actually prefer this year’s less crowded version.