Posts Tagged ‘black lives matter’

Nordheimer ravine – paint and paper

Posted: July 10, 2021 in graffiti and street art, locations
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below: M is for Mural and probably more.  One of the pieces of street art and graffiti seed under Spadina Road as it crosses Nordheimer Ravine.

street art and graffiti on a concrete support of a bridge, old woman's head and face and lots of names - Alex, Sam, Becca, Faith, tall grass and shrubs growing around it

below: A closer view with God & Love and many little hearts.

close up of old woman in mural, words god and love are written above her, some symbols beside her, lots of little hearts

below: A little black and white dog stands beside another part of the bridge

a small black and white dog stands beside graffiti on the bottom part of a bridge support. triangle headed man holding a big question mark, the word vice, a man with red head band and red bandana over lower part of face,

below: Black Lives Matter mural under the bridge with the now iconic phrases of “I can’t breathe” and “No Justice, No Peace”.
BLM mural on bridge supports, I can't breath, no justice, no peace are words painted on it, also a wall full of names of those who have died

below: A closer view showing some of the names that are painted on the wall.

below: Home to someone, surrounded by graffiti – including “You are what you give others”

tent and belongings of a homeless man under a bridge surrounded by tags and other graffiti

a man in blue top and shorts runs on a path under a bridge , support of bridge has graffiti on it, large red s and b on blue background

below: Some of the stickers seen in the area – an S333 red ring pop and Lucha graffiti. Life© takes first place with trp613 in second, and Bruho coming in third.  Another Bruho character tries to escape the computer monitor with red and blue Kizmet32 faces right below.  Every Knows Us as a man in a gas mask.

3 poles with stickers on them

below: A mouse and a lost creature

stickers on pole, one of a mouse, and other with word lost

graffiti on the concrete supports of a bridge

below: Black and white photos with Chinese lettering make up this paper paste-up

paper paste up graffiti on a concrete pole with chinese lettering and black and white photos on it, orange and blue spray paint beside the paste up

below: Pink and white text

pink and white tag graffiti, text, calligraphy, on dark green background on lower part of concrete bridge support

woman walking on path in ravine park, with graffiti on wall behind her

random posters

Posted: November 11, 2020 in graffiti and street art
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What motivates someone to put up a poster in public space? Protest? Humour? Marketing? Just because?  The first three photos are from two concrete poles on the West Toronto Railpath; the other three photos were taken in nearby neighbourhoods.

below: The picture on the right is from New York City’s first Gay Pride March on 17th July 1969.

posters on a concrete utility pole

below:  The book in the poster on the left is “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings”, Maya Angelou’s autobiography of her early years.  The poster on the right looks like a copy of something from the 1950’s – a science fiction movie or a book?

paper posters on a concrete pole

below: “The Spirit Lives on, the Struggle is ours.
When life no longer has value and living still comes at a cost
Reset the clock of healing, never forgetting the loss.”

pink and white poster on a pole, along with a stencil graffiti of a cold coloured torso on blue background

below: No Police, No Prisons, No Pipelines

no police, no prisons, no pipeline, poster on a glass door

below: A collection of Black Lives Matter posters.  End Police Brutality; No Justice, No Peace;  Disarm, Defund, Diminish, Abolish.

construction hoardings with a door on it, posters have been glued onto the wood

below: Perhaps someone with a can of black spray paint is disgruntled?  Or just being a jerk?

posters on a wall, many have been spray painted over

elicser on the Danforth

Posted: October 28, 2020 in graffiti and street art, locations
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One of three murals newly painted on the Danforth is one by Elicser Elliott on the southeast corner of Danforth & Donlands (once a 7-Eleven store).   Four other artists were involved in this mural which is part of ‘Destination Danforth’, a pilot project that involved a number of infrastructure improvements such as bike lanes and patios as well as creative elements such as these murals.

On the front and sides of the old 7-Eleven is this mural:

from a mural by elicser, a woman in a pink head scarf is reading a book

from a mural by elicser, a woman in a pink head scarf is reading a bookand beside it is text street art

from a mural by elicser on an old 7-Eleven building on the Danforth, a couple is looking at an open laptop together, brown skin, woman in blue head scarf

below: The swirls were painted by Flips (Swirlgod and BSC – Blurred Sight Clreared)

mural by elicser along with text tag street art

text street art in pink that looks like it is hovering over a pond

 

group of people, elicser mural

elicser mural, group of people

On the back of the building along the alley, is a mural in black, white, and shades of grey. “Enemy of Justice is Ignorance Allied with Power”

mural with words, Enemy of Justice is Ignorance allied with power. Black and white and grey

below: “No justice for Breonna Taylor” plays on the TV while a policeman in 2020 vintage riot gear stands by the door.

part of the Enemy of Justice mural, policeman standing by door, man sitting with hands over his eyes as TV is broadcasting about Breonna Taylor murder by policemen

below: The year 1955 references the day that Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on the bus to a white man in Montgomery Alabama, 1 December 1955.  It was the year that saw the birth of the African-American Civil Rights Movement in the USA.  Police uniforms sure have changed!

history part of elicser enemy of justice mural

This project was also a collaboration with the local BIA’s, StreetARToronto, and East End Arts.

Three other artists contributed to these murals:  Spyone, Nick Sweetman, Smokestack Lightning, and Maysr

Black Lives Matter in Graffiti Alley

Posted: June 19, 2020 in alleys, graffiti and street art
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A while ago, a group of street artists took over Graffiti Alley and painted a number of murals and street art pieces dedicated to the Black Lives Matter movement. This is a large sample of the work that was completed as part of that project ‘Paint the City Black’.

Graffiti on a wall in Graffiti Alley including the words Black Lives Matter

below: A tribute to Breonna Taylor by elicsereliot

a mural featuring a portrait of Breonna Taylor, a black woman who was killed by police in the United States, Her name is written there as well

below: Martin Luther King Jr with “Police brutality ends now.  RIP Jamal”

A portrait of Martin Luther King Jr. painted in a mural, along with words in green paint that say Police brutality ends R I P Jamal

below: Free the Revolution

A mural in Graffiti Alley, a black bird with a dark blue beak, with the words Free the Revolution

below: A Lovebot heart supported by a black hand a white hand working together.

A mural in Graffiti Alley, A red lovebot heart with tow hands under it and appearing to hold it up, one hand is black and the other is white

below: No Justice, No peace, a mandala by Opola Karim

A circular design in light grey on black in a flower shape with words under that say no justice no peace

below: A mural by @sumartist (Paul Glyn-Williams) – I can’t breathe, the last words of George Floyd, surrounded by the words “But we can hear you”.

A portrait of George Floyd who was killed by American police in Minneapolis, with lower part of his face covered with a black mask with words I can't breathe written on it.

below: A poser bunny

poser bunny mural in graffiti alley, giving peace sign, beside words that say black lives matter

below: RIP Jamal Francique by bubzart (aka Bubzlitto Brigante).  Jamal was shot by Peel Region police earlier this year.

tribute mural to the memory of jamal francique, with his portrait

below: A portrait of James Baldwin (1924-1987) painted by Phillip Saunders.  Baldwin was an American writer and activist.

portrait of James Baldwin, mural in Graffiti Alley, by Phillip Saunders

wall in Graffiti Alley, back of two storey building with exterior metal stairs, wall is covered with graffiti including words R I P to the black lives taken by police

below: A large paste up by Adeyemi Adegbesan

black and white and grey tones pasteup graffiti by yung of a woman with a hat that is a bird's head and large beak, many chains around her neck and her eyes are covered, lots of flowers covering the back of her head and neck

below: Leyland Adams painted this portrait of Malcolm X.
“You don’t have to be a man to fight for freedom.
All you have to be is an intelligent human.”

mural dedicated to Malcom X with his portrait and one of his quotes

two faces in two murals adjacent to each other, one is of a young woman and the other is a boy

mural of woman in bright colours, reds and pinks, wearing a blue mask, tribute to health care workers.

more CONTACT, King Street West

Posted: June 14, 2017 in events, galleries
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As I’ve mentioned before, I tried to see as many of the CONTACT Photography exhibits as I could in the last few days of May.  I blogged about two weeks ago about the ‘blocks’ at Brookfield Place.  I have been meaning to finish posting about the other exhibits I saw but there’s so much happening in the city.  I’ve been spending a lot of time walking with my camera instead of sitting in front of my computer.

Two of the exhibits that I saw were on King St West, one by Metro Hall and the other on the corner of the TIFF Lightbox building.   I haven’t been able to figure out what to say about the photos so they have sat in a folder on my hard drive.   Unfortunately they are not alone.  Yesterday I went back to take another look at the exhibits and think through a few thoughts, but the photos are gone.  Procrastination has its pitfalls.  TIFF Lightbox is now promoting their “Canada on Screen” program – all year, all free – as part of the Canada 150 celebrations.

I’ll just let the pictures do the talking.

below: The corner of Widmer and King back in May.  The photos are “On Location” by Sam Cotter.

large photo on the corner of a building, taken during a movie shoot on the streets of Toronto (Bay St), a young man is sitting against the other side of the corner of the building asking passers by for money.

bikes parked in front of a large photo mounted on the side of the TIFF lightbox building, showing an orange movie shoot cone and a fake city street sign.

below: A similar viewpoint, taken yesterday.  Different pictures.. and different bikes.

bikes parked in front of a large poster advertising TIFF's Canada on Screen program, a collage of black and white pictures taken from movies.

The other exhibit was “The Sum of All Parts” by Jalani Morgan.