Pride is big. By big I mean soooo many people and places happening all at once. I take pictures on that Sunday because I like mingling with the crowds, talking to people, and taking pictures of people who want their picture taken. Although I am happy to take posed shots, I prefer the candid shots. This set of photos is by no means comprehensive – that’s an impossible task. Instead it represents the people and events that I saw as I walked up Church Street, checked out the marshaling area for the parade, and then tried to find shady spots to stand to watch the parade itself (another impossibility!)… until I got too tired.
…for 100 years. At the moment there is a selection of old TTC photos on display at Pape subway station in celebration of 100 years of Toronto Transit.
below: Already lining the walls at Pape Station are images of Pape station itself and the surrounding neighbourhood. This is ‘Sources/Derivations’ by Allan Harding MacKay. You can see the reflections of one of the old TTC photos in this section of MacKay’s artwork.
The TTC posters are at platform level between the westbound and eastbound trains so you can look at them while waiting for a train.
below: First Pride bus, 2008
below: People waiting for the North Yonge bus at Eglinton station, 1950s
below: Waiting for the subway. “Line 1 customers ride the higher capacity Toronto Rocket (TR) subway train on its 2011 launch. By 2017, Line 1 had grown by 8.6 km.”
below: Two posters, two eras. On the left: “A chartered TTC bus circles outside Rosedale station in 1961 as it awaits passengers. Only one other station, Davisville, from the original 12 was a surface station.” On the right: “Rushing to catch a Peter Witt streetcar along its Yonge Street route on a summer day in 1930.
below: “A TTC car picks up scholars with disabilities outside their school in the 1920s.” A couple with their COVID masks on sit in front of more images from ‘Sources/Derivations’ by artist Allan Harding MacKay.
below: “On a warm day in 1994, customers eagerly wait to board an Articulated Light Rail Vehicle streetcar along Queen Street at University Avenue.
“Resilience” is a photography exhibit at Cedarbrae Library.
It is the creation of Scarborough Made. This is a group founded by Alex Narvaez x Sid Naidu in 2019. It uses photography and cinematography to document positive stories about the people of Scarborough with emphasis on identity and culture.
“Resilience:
The ability to recover from challenges or adjust easily to change.
Resilience exists all around us.
We see it in the movers and shakers, the cultural change makers and creative instigators.
We see it in our neighbourhoods, from the small businesses to our healthcare and essential workers.
Resilience is what lives in our narratives and exists within our identity.
Our resilience as a community is stronger when we stick together. With it, we can overcome the challenges and build towards a better future.
The portraits you see as part of this public art installation represent the many faces that embody resilience. Pulling from both past and present works of Scarborough Made artists, we’ve created this exhibit for you to see and reflect on the humanity that exists within our community.
Resilience is us
Resilience is you
Resilience is Scarborough. ”
below: by Nick Sweetman – two ebony jewelwings, a male and female along with a partially submerged frog with its tongue ready for action. Jewelwings are a species of damselfly.
Winter stations 2023, as in previous years, is a collection of art installations along the waterfront at Woodbine Beach. I went for a walk along the beach one very blustery Saturday morning. There weren’t many of us there and I think that I was the only one who wasn’t accompanied by a dog.
below: ‘Delighthouse’, designed by British pair Nick Green and Greig Pirrie.
below: A shrine to the neighbourhoods of Toronto titled “The (Home)” designed by Canadian group, Scott Shields Architects
below: “Ripple Hut” designed by students from Toronto Metropolitan University’s Department of Architectural Sciences.
below: Looking through one of the holes in “Ripple Hut” towards the curved yellow forms of “Surface Pavilion” which was designed by a Mexican team consisting of Cesar Guerrero, Ana Cecilia Garza, and Orlando Garcia .
below: “Winternet”, just burlap between wood posts. Designed, such as it is, by a team from University of Waterloo, Dept of Architecture.
below: “Life Line” – design team: WeatherstonBruer Associates – James Bruer, Nick Roland, Jacqueline Hampshire
below: “Conrad” is a large raccoon designed by Novak Djogo and Daniel Joshua Vanderhorst; it is also a memorial to Conrad the real raccoon who died at the corner of Church and Yonge Streets in the summer of 2015. Whether you love them, hate them, or are indifferent to them, raccoons are part of the Toronto scene.
‘Out and About – Windows of Time’ is a large mural by Christiano De Araujo that features scenes from the social history of Weston village. Unfortunately, the (painted) young man who is sitting on the sidewalk and playing a guitar is hidden by the (real) car parked in front of the mural.
This post is actually a continuation of today’s other post, “A Little Piece of Weston”. You’ll find other murals and street art there as well as a few little odds and ends about the Weston neighbourhood.
