people | as I walk Toronto

Posts Tagged ‘people’

Womens March

Posted: January 22, 2017 in events, people
Tags: boys, cars, children, community, diversity, dog, Donald Trump, families, fight like a girl, free Melania, friendship, girls, hard hat, involved, kids, love not fear, love trumps hate, march, men, nathan phillips square, people, placards, police, protest, Queens Park, rally, Shepard Fairey, sign, smiles, stars and stripes, Toronto, Trump, University Ave., walk, women, WOmens March, wrecking ball

Thousands of people (50,000?), men, women and children, rallied at Queens Park and then marched down University Avenue past the American Embassy this afternoon. This was the Womens March in Toronto, a march in response to Donald Trump’s inauguration as President of the United States. It coincided with similar events in Washington, most major cities in North America, and other cities around the world. The Toronto marchers ended their walk at Nathan Phillips Square. It was a peaceful, positive event.

It was also a family event. There were a lot of kids walking with their parents (or being pushed in strollers). Many of the kids had made their own signs to carry.

There were also many people that came as groups, whether as groups of friends or groups united in a cause.

There were a few signs using the “We The People” designs by Shepard Fairey.

Donald Trump swings happily on a wrecking ball.

I march for equality and peace.
I’d rather have a queen than a trump.

There were lots of references to nasty women!

Many people wore pink hats. These mysterious two took it a step further, pink balaclavas.

Love not fear, and a pink hard hat too!

Free Melania | #freemelania

girls are strong

Women have rights and we’re gonna use them! … with rainbows.

A loud hear us roar!

Donald Trump was at the march too, even if only in effigy.

The march stopped for a few minutes when it reached Queen Street. There was much traffic confusion and chaos (and honking of horns) at the intersection of Queen and University until the police closed all traffic on Queen Street.

Orange? No. I’m peach. Great play on words.

Make America gay again!!

And that’s only part of the crowd at Nathan Phillips Square!

“Babies against Trump. We don’t like it when people call Trump a baby – we act better than him.”

Women’s rights are human rights.

#whyImarch | #womensmarch | #nastywoman | #lovetrumpshate | #noh8

feeling hungry?

Posted: January 16, 2017 in alleys, graffiti and street art, public art, stores
Tags: alley, Bloor St., chicken, dirty bird, eating, Elicser, food, fried chicken, lane, man, milkshake, mural, people, restaurant, sandwich, waffles, woman

You can almost find it by following your nose!

I’ve been in many alleys where the smell has been less than desirable but today I was taking pictures in an alley that smelled wonderful! A small alley running south from Bloor Street beside the The Dirty Bird restaurant….or more accurately The Dirty Bird Chicken & Waffles.

And the pictures that I was taking there?
Well, they were of chicken and waffles and people eating of course!

Elicser has painted a mural in the alley alongside the restaurant.

below: I love how the straw is placed!

How did you start the new year?

Posted: January 2, 2017 in events, people
Tags: bathing suits, beach, cold, costumes, frigid, Habitat for Humanity, hats, icy, January, Lake Ontario, New Years day, people, Polar Bear Dip, sand, shreak, snow, splash, Sunnyside Park, swimming, towels, waterfront, winter, yell

Did you do something lazy like sleep in and then stay in your jammies all day?
Did you stay home and stay warm?

I know a few people that did just the opposite! More than 60 people took the plunge and got wet, frigid cold wet that is. The 12th annual Polar Bear dip at Sunnyside Park was well attended this year and these are some of the brave and crazy people who were there (and the less brave and crazy who came to watch, support, and take pictures of the swimmers).

below: The event is a fundraiser for Habitat for Humanity and over $64,000 was raised this year. Habitat for Humanity had a team who participated, they could be spotted wearing orange T-shirts and orange hard hats.

#dothedip | #topolarbear

as it once was, The Ward

Posted: December 19, 2016 in history, public art
Tags: Archives, bilingual, city, construction downtown, court house, diggers, history, hoardings, houses, machinery, mural, PA system, PATCH, people, pictures, Picturing the Ward, public art, stories, The STEPS Initiative, The Ward, Toronto Ward Museum, wood

Tucked into a space between City Hall and the Court House, is a construction site. Up until recently it was a parking lot. Soon it will be a new Court House. Like all construction sites in Toronto, it is surrounded by hoardings to separate it from the streets and sidewalks.

On two sides of the lot, the hoardings have been covered with a mural that was commissioned by Infrastructure Ontario. It is “Picturing the Ward”and it is an exhibit about the area that once existed here, The Ward. It was an area where many immigrants first settled. It was roughly in the rectangle formed by College St., Yonge St., Queen St., and University Ave. In the 1830’s it was home to Blacks escaping slavery, it saw waves of Irish, Eastern European Jews, Italians, and Chinese to name a few.

On the west side (along Centre Avenue), there are old photos, newspaper clippings, and stories of individuals who once lived in the area. The content was collected and curated by the Toronto Ward Museum, a new ‘museum without walls’ in the city. PATCH (part of The STEPS Initiative) designed and installed the mural. The stories are in both English and French.

below: A segment of the mural with a story titled “Hungering for Success”. It is the story of Edward and Donna Pasquale nee Bernardo. Both were born in Italy and both were brought to the Ward by their parents. They met here and married in 1918. Edward and his brother Pamphilo founded Pasquale Brothers store on Elm Street. During WW2 Pamphilo spent three years imprisoned in an internment camp in Petawawa along with other Italian, German, and Japanese Canadians that the government considered enemies of the state. Edward remained in Toronto running the store.

below: The newspaper story from ‘The Toronto Star’ of 3rd October 1907 describes the death of Mrs. Hazleton, a widow with two children, who was hit by a car at Yonge & Bloor. The car was driven by Mr. F.E. Mutton. Yes, back then the driver of the car was named in the newspaper.

below: The middle section is a collage of cyanotypes (an old photographic process which results in blue pictures) produced by PA System (aka Alexa Hatanaka and Patrick Thompson) . The images are of artifacts uncovered during the excavation of the area along with some heirlooms contributed by former Ward residents. A couple of CBC people were braving the cold that day too!

below: The south side of the hoardings are along Armoury Street. This section is called, These Stories Are Not Unlike Your Stories. Old photographs of the area have been reproduced in shades of blue. Orange ‘bubbles’ contain stories. Most of the photographs are from the City of Toronto Archives although some come from private sources.

below: On one side, the pictures are printed in reverse and the accompanying words are in French. The French stories are translations of the English ones.

below: The people who lived in The Ward were poor and their housing was sub-standard. In 1911 a report by the city’s Department of Health described how bad the living conditions were for the people here. Largely because of that report, demolition of the area started soon after to make space for office towers and government buildings. I’m not sure how long parts of The Ward survived, but it was in the 1950’s that the original Chinatown along Elizabeth Street was demolished to make way for Nathan Phillips Square.

below: Some of the orange bubbles contain quotes from descendants of former residents of the area. The bottom quote is: “My mom use to say, ‘We were all poor. No one had anything. It was normal. Everyone was in the same position so we didn’t worry about it too much.'” by Brian Banks, grandson of John & Mary Colestock, former residents.

below: There is still a lot of work to be done on the site! The mural will be on view until at least October of next year. If you are interested in the details of the mural, more about the people featured, or the events described, then the best place to start looking is the section of the Toronto Ward Museum website that is devoted to this project.

radiating away from Roden

Posted: December 13, 2016 in alleys, graffiti and street art, public art, windows and walls
Tags: alley, backyard, bikes, black cat, chainlink, deer, doe, eye, fawn, fence, garage door, garages, graffiti, houses, Kairo, lane, map, mural, old cars, parked, people, Roden school, slush, snow, stencil, street art, sunflowers, woman's head

The Roden in the title of this blog post refers to Roden Public School. In their schoolyard they have this colourful mural, a fairly accurate map of the area with the school in the center. The original school on this site was built in 1907-1908 as Ashdale School. In 1910 it was renamed to honour Mr. E.P. Roden a long time school trustee. The present school was built in 1969.

below: The school is just north of Gerrard St., between Coxwell and Greenwood, and south of the railway tracks. I suspect that the 100 in the circle that marks the school has to do with the 100th anniversary of the school although I haven’t been able to find any information about the mural online.

All day Sunday, and well into the early hours of Monday morning, it snowed. It’s been many months since I’ve walked on a snowy day. It was a bit grey and there wasn’t a lot of contrast (as in light and shadow) in the scenery yesterday afternoon when I walked, but the novelty of white snow kept me interested (and warm!). From Roden school I wandered westward.

below: Walking home after school.

below: A cosy brown scarf and red hat, an avocado smile, celery arms are two doggie treat buttons on his tummy – a snowman living the easy life. No standing around in the snow for him!

below: This was my friend who accompanied me for part of my walk, meowing loudly most of the time. I’m not sure what it was trying to tell me. Maybe it was out enjoying the snow? More likely it was looking for a warm place to snuggle.

below: Busy steps, quiet steps.

below: Keeping an eye on the garage. Eye spy!

below: Bikes and deer in the alley. A mother deers keeps watch over her fawn.

below: On one hand, I want to say that for those who want to look, there are many little surprises to be found in the lanes and alleys of this city. But on the other hand, there are an incredible number of old cars parked in city backyards. Some are neglected and clearly not roadworthy while others still have some life left in them.

below: Another car.

below: Clowning around in a window.

below: I think it’s dub monkey, duh?

below: Looking south to Gerrard Street. Snow and slush, very Toronto in the winter. The orange construction sign is also very Toronto, but in all seasons these days.

below: Someone added some colour to the alley when they shouldn’t have.

below: A mural by kairo, on a pink that packs a punch on a grey winter day.

below: More alley colour to brighten the day.

below: Someone loves their bike. I find it a bit creepy that the picture is a skull.

below: Wall art of another kind. Shades of yellow.

below: Little ups and downs in the lane. A large majestic winter tree stands over the lane.

below: A peacock mural. Lahore Halal Meat store on the corner of Gerrard is a reminder that this part of Gerrard was/is referred to as Little India because of the large number of Indian (Southeast Asian) shops and restaurants.

below: This photo is from the entrance to Lahore Halal Meat store in the above photo. The material on the inside features brides and grooms within heart shapes and surrounded by white flowers. Not what you’d expect in a meat shop!

below: Textured concrete, broken bricks, and the remnants of a black stencil.

below: Sunflowers reach for a sunny place.

below: A fork in the alley. A jumble of lines.

carpets and ice

Posted: December 8, 2016 in galleries
Tags: blue, carpets, false guide, faucets, faux guide, Geological Time, Harbourfront, ice, Morocco, museum, natural history, people, pipes, Plumbers Assemblage, plumbing, prints, red, rink, shower heads, skating, skyline, taps, the power plant, urban, Yto Barrada

Yesterday afternoon I wandered into The Power Plant Art Gallery. It was late enough in the day that the sun was already low in the sky. It shone through the large windows in the main gallery and cast a warm glow on the current exhibit, works by Yto Barrada titled ‘Faux Guide’ .

The first thing you see when you enter the rooms is a collection of carpets. This is ‘Geological Time Scale’ and it consists of bright and bold red, blue, and green carpets – Beni Mguild, Marmoucha and Ait Sgougou pile rugs from Western Central, Middle Atlas, Morocco. It’s definitely eye catching and it definitely draws the viewer into the exhibit.

A series of small exhibits are arranged around the room and most of them are the result of the artist’s research on Moroccan dinosaurs, fossils, and the industry that has built up around them including the trade in fake fossils sold to tourists and museums. I have not shown most of these exhibits – I will leave it up to you to discover them.

below: “I am not exotic I am exhausted”. I suspect that this comes as Barrada’s response to living in a place (Tangiers Morroco) where tourists come to see “exotic things”. But it is also the lament of anyone trying to live and work in a place that is also a “tourist attraction”.

below: The whole of ‘A Modest Proposal’ and ‘Faux Guide’, 2015. A set of 48 posters loosely tacked to the wall. A mix of humorous and poignant. One is an alphabetical listing of all the types of dinosaurs found in Morocco. One says “Miss Colorado and Miss Finland are Moroccan” – which did happen in 2012.

below: ‘Plumber Assemblage’ by the window, with skaters outside in the fading light.

There are many, many things that you can take from this exhibit. Many things to think about.

An article in the Toronto Star claims that Barrada “explores the cultural heritage of her homeland through a colonial lens” and how that heritage has been used to make money from tourists. But…. Is this the making of money by exploiting one’s culture and history? Or the exploiting of Moroccan culture and history by the tourists?

Tourists go searching for the foreign and the exotic. Many of them are souvenir hunters – Sometimes it’s a selfie in front of every “famous” place (or interesting building or whatever) and sometimes it’s a “find”. But we live in a world that is full of ‘made in China’ souvenirs and we are a people that don’t care to distinguish between the real and the fake. We just want a story to tell the folks back home.

There were once dinosaurs living in a tropical land in what is now Morocco…. how the world has changed, and is changing. Insert your opinions on climate change here.

Because it is a collection of exhibits under one umbrella, it has been compared to a museum. Very trendy. One description of the exhibit claims that it is “Meant to make us question the ways in which museums confer value on things”. Can I take that one step further by asking, how do art galleries confer status on art and artists? Museums make curatorial choices and so do art galleries. Barrada too has surely made choices as have I.

You are probably wondering what carpets on the floor have to do with all those words that I just wrote. Good question. I think that Yto Barrada is on to something – an exhibit that has visual appeal, offends no one, and is flexible in its interpretation (i.e. it says something different to everyone and fits nicely into most people’s narratives). You can agree with me, or disagree. Best to go and see it for yourself and form your own opinions…. mine just might be fake.

below: People skating on the frozen Natrel Pond beside The Power Plant.

Yto Barrada’s exhibit will be on at The Power Plant until the 2nd of January.

Peperonata Lane

Posted: December 6, 2016 in graffiti and street art, locations
Tags: 2013, alley, bird, building, clandestinos, colours, construction, deer, Elicser, faces, fiya, Galle, garage, garage doors, hawk, houses, lane, Little Italy, miles, Montrose, paintings, people, Peperonata Lane, poise, poser, renovations, shalak, smoky, squares, street art, tags, wallnoize

Peperonata Lane runs north from Harbord Street. Most of the garage doors in the alley have been painted. Some were painted as part of a Wallnoize project in 2013.

below: Take a seat… and see what kind of street art there is here.

below: A woman feeds the chickens.

below: This mural, done in 2009, is one of the older ones in the lane.

below: A deer and a hawk

below: Elicser people and a text painting by poise.

below: Split face on a fence, by fiya

below: A poser bunny

below: Multicoloured grumpy cat by shalak and clandestinos.

below: Wrinkled man with fish in hand, by smoky

below: A garage door painted by miles.

From City of Toronto documentation on the naming of Peperonata Lane, November 2012:

“The residents whose properties border on the lane have provided the following background information on the proposed name:”

” …throughout each year, the Galle family, who’ve lived at 441Montrose (the east side) since 1972, includes many Montrose residents in their annual celebration of making the “sugo” or tomato sauce, the roasted peppers and peperonata party, and the spirited soppressata contest, which they bring from their home country of Italy. Everyone learns the old world techniques and celebrates their new life in our Canadian context.

To commemorate how our lives have been enriched by the Galles welcoming and generous spirits, and in keeping with the traditions they’ve taught us and that we’ve now made our own, we propose the lane be named “Peperonata Lane” as a way of celebrating their unsung contribution to our neighbourhood”.

It’s a Timmie’s life

Posted: December 3, 2016 in general Toronto
Tags: coffee cups, door, empty cups, fire equipment, litter, meter, people, picture, step, stories, street, streetcar, Tim Hortons, Tims cups, trash, TTC

In the lead role, the hero of our story, the Tim Hortons coffee cup, a bright red Canadian icon with its usual black top and brown sleeve. He gets around. The city is his playground. Whether it’s standing out against a minimalist black and white background….

or trying hard to fit into the colours of the city.

There are times when he’s on top of the world. King of the castle so to speak.

.. and he rides in style with his private seat on the TTC.

But it’s not always an easy life. Sometimes he’s down in the dumps facing hurdles that are too high. He’s left feeling abandoned and neglected. Vacant.

And he has even considered ending it all.

But he’s an urban guy. He knows that life is what you make of it.

And there are always others just like him that he can count on for a chat or for a shoulder to cry on.

He has many fine traits. He can be a curious fellow but he knows his limits.

He knows that sometimes you have to be patient… but that doors usually open.

He’s frequently warm and often ready to lend a hand. In case of fire, he’s there!

You’ll find him in many places around the city, watching, waiting, and keeping an eye on the situation in his own quiet way. He too is part of this city.