Happy Hallowe’en!
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’.
below: A tribute to Breonna Taylor by elicsereliot
below: Martin Luther King Jr with “Police brutality ends now. RIP Jamal”
below: Free the Revolution
below: A Lovebot heart supported by a black hand a white hand working together.
below: No Justice, No peace, a mandala by Opola Karim
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”.
below: A poser bunny
below: RIP Jamal Francique by bubzart (aka Bubzlitto Brigante). Jamal was shot by Peel Region police earlier this year.
below: A portrait of James Baldwin (1924-1987) painted by Phillip Saunders. Baldwin was an American writer and activist.
below: A large paste up by Adeyemi Adegbesan
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.”
This is part of my ‘end of the year clean up and sort through photos’ process that I start most years at this time – I don’t always finish but that’s a whole other story. One of the drafts that I found this morning was this post which I was in the midst of writing when the fan on my laptop died.  The technological hiccups have been dealt with and on we go…. .  back in the fall I spent some time around Bloor and Spadina and this is the result.
below: On the SE corner of Spadina and Bloor are these supersized Dominoes. It’s rather silly but I like the juxtaposition of Dominoes and Pizza Pizza. This is also part of Matt Cohen Park.
below: The hoardings went up around Honest Eds late in October.  By the time you read this, most (if not all) of the building will be gone.
below: Jimi Hendrix Sculpture Garden includes the bronze sculpture “People helping People” 1990, by Al Green. The sculpture also appears on the property of an apartment complex in Davisville – the connection being that the two properties were developed by the same family company (the Green family as it turns out). The garden also includes two bas-relief sculptures on the wall. These are reproductions of some of the decorative facades of the Victorian houses (1890’s) that used to be on this site until they were torn down in 2004.
below: What the well dressed mummy was wearing this fall season.
below: There is not a lot of street art as you get closer to Spadina (there is more closer to Bathurst). This garage door is one of the few pieces.
below: Poster for the YCL (Young Communist League) of Canada.
below: The Ten Editions books store which sits on University of Toronto property. There is some debate/discussion going on at the moment re the development of this site. Ten Editions has been there since 1984. At that time, the building was 100 years old as it was started its life 1885 as the John James Funstan Grocery Store.  The University of Toronto wants to tear it down so they can build a 23 storey residence on the site.
below: On the grounds of Trinity St. Paul Church is a sign that marks the spot of another garden. This one is the Heart Garden and it is there to honour the children who were lost in or survived the residential school system. “May we be part of a future of reconciliation and justice”. It is designed in the shape of an Indigenous Medicine Wheel. You can see the four concrete ‘paths’ that divide the wheel into four sections. I have never noticed this garden before and it is unfortunate that the first time was late in the autumn when nothing was growing. I will come back in the spring and/or summer to take a closer look.  Apparently it is part of a project, just one of many heart gardens across the country.
below: Walmer Road street sign. Most of these green Annex signs have faded over time and it is rare now to find one in good shape like this one.
As I type this, there is still snow falling from the sky, the tail end (I hope!) of the latest snow fall. .. so you can expect some snowier pictures in the near future!
Toronto in the summer means street festivals every weekend.  One of the festivals this past weekend was the 15th annual South Asian Festival in ‘Little India’.  Gerrard Street East was closed to traffic between Greenwood and Coxwell for the occasion.
below: Shopping, strolling and playing games. Try your skill at cricket or buy some jewellery or some clothing.
Like all street festivals, there was lots of food and drink available.
below: Extracting sugar cane juice.
below: Fresh baked naan, straight from the oven.
There were many photo ops provided. For instance, there were cut outs for faces in pictures of Bollywood actors.
… and a richly decorated cart (What is it’s proper name?)
and mannequins in traditional costumes.
below: There was also entertainment.  In this case, a rapper in Hindi and English.
… and there was even a large elephant parked beside Victoria Whole Foods! It looks a bit tacky with the big advertising banner on its side but it was still a popular place to take selfies.
This looks like an ordinary entrance into a TTC subway station. It is.
It’s Bessarion station on Line 4, the Sheppard Line.
The red arrow points to one of a series of little photographs of hands that run beside the escalator to street level.
I’d be willing to bet that none of you have been to Bessarion subway station. If you’ve heard of the station it’s probably in the context of complaints that no one uses the station so why did the city spend so much money building it.  One of the reasons for the low volume of traffic is that there are no bus routes (besides Sheppard) that serve this station. Apparently in 2014 an average of 2380 people used the station on weekdays. If true, then 2379 plus me where there today (although the stats may have increased since then).   I took some pictures for you – you will now have an idea of what the station looks like without having to go there.
below: An art installation called ‘Passing’ dominates the yellow walls of the station concourse level. It consists of a band of black and white photographs of legs and feet taken by Sylvie Belanger. The little pictures of hands that I mentioned at the beginning of this blog are also part of this installation.
below: The pictures of legs and feet run around the whole concourse level of the station.
below: Down the escalator to the lower level.
below: I was not alone!
below: The artwork at track level is a continuation of the photographs by Sylvie Belanger. This time the pictures are of the backs of people’s heads and they are incorporated into the red pillars.
below: The outer walls are bare concrete and there are very few ads or posters on the walls.
The finishing touches are being put on five installations for the new Ice Breakers event along Queens Quay West and the waterfront. Everything will be up and running this weekend and the installations will remain until the event ends on the 26th of February.   Ice Breakers is the result of a collaboration between the Waterfront BIA and Winter Stations (the people that brought the winter warming stations installations to the Beaches)
below: The first installation that I saw was ‘Incognito’ which stands out in Rees Street Parkette on Queens Quay.  It is by Curio Art Consultancy and Jaspal Riyait.
below: Set your sails and round you go! Sailboats that go in circles. ‘Leeward Fleet’ by RAW design sailing at Canada Square.
below: ‘Icebox ‘ is a black box on HTO beach which is where the yellow umbrellas are. Alan and Alex of Anex Works were putting the finishing touches on it when I walked by.  Polymetis designed it, but Anex Works built it. In fact, they are the ones responsible for construction of most of these installations.  I didn’t take any photos inside the box in part because it’s not complete… but the inside walls are made from hardened spray foam insulation and that’s all I’m going to tell you. This one will be more fun if it’s a surprise.  I definitely plan to go back later in the month to check out the finished product.  And yes, it is reminiscent of the black box that was one of the Warming Stations in 2015, Hot Box, because it was the same artist (or group of artists).
below: From across the street it looks like two hands gesturing like “It was this big!”
Or perhaps they are holding that grey building up?
below: The hands are made of wood. The palms are covered in a shiny gold coloured material that will reflect the light that shines from the bottom of each hand.  “Tailored Twins” by Ferris + Associates.
below: And last, an installation that probably looks much better in the dark when each diamond shaped module is lit from inside.  This is ‘Winter Diamonds’ and it was designed by Platant, a Danish design and artistic consultancy. Their website is in Danish but it does have some interesting pictures on it, including an installation similar to this that was in Copenhagen last winter (I think!)
#TOicebreakers | #TOwaterfront
Note: Winter Stations returns to Balmy, Kew and Ashbridges Bay beaches on the 20th of February.
Back in mid October I blogged about the new murals on the south side Wilson Ave as it passes under the Allen Expressway (where Wilson subway station is).
below: Looking across Wilson Avenue to part of the mural on the south side.
When I was there last, the murals on the north side were not completed.  The other day I remembered that I hadn’t seen the finished work, so I took the subway back to Wilson station to see what the pillars on the north side look like.  There is more light on the north side as there are entrances to the subway along the sidewalk here.  There is also more pedestrian traffic.
This side was also painted by shalak and smoky (as was the south side).
below: In the center by one of the well-lit subway entrances.
below: Looking east along Wilson Avenue.
below: A little street artist with his can of spray paint has been left in a corner.
He’s not easily spotted.