photography | as I walk Toronto

Posts Tagged ‘photography’

portraits, larger than life

Posted: May 7, 2022 in events, public art
Tags: CONTACT, Contact photography festival, Cultural Turns, georgia, Jorian Charlton, King St. West, Metro Hall, Out of Many, photography, portraits, Tyler Mitchell

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.

‘Seeing Evergreen’

Posted: May 2, 2022 in people, public art
Tags: Dvid Crombie Park, interviews, Jamii, people, photography, portraits, Seeing Evergreen, THe Esplanade

“To know a forest you start with the roots”

“Seeing Evergreen” is an exhibit presented by Jamii Twelve older residents of the area were paired with local youth to share their stories. The results of these conversations, along with portraits of the participants, are on display in David Crombie Park on The Esplanade.

below: All the posters have a large portrait on one side

below: On the other side is a small picture as well as the words written. Posters with portraits and stories of four – Victoria, Naomi, Stella, and Carol-Anne

below: Nancy and Chet, their pictures and stories.

below: Posters with the Toronto skyline behind.

generally Dundas, from McCaul to Augusta

Posted: March 26, 2022 in alleys, graffiti and street art, intersections, locations
Tags: AGO, alleys, anti war, Art Gallery of Ontario, Bellevue Park, Chinatown, Chinatown the Best, construction, Dundas West, graffiti, Jeremy Lynch, Jimmys Coffee, jumblefacefoto, Kensington, Krispy Kreme, lanes, Long Time No See, McCaul Street, OCADU, Our Lady Mount Carmel Church, pasteups, photography, portraits, Putin, Rosalie Sharp Pavilion, slaps, St. Patricks Church, stencils, stickers, T-bonez, urban ninja squadron, visual noise

Toronto is a city of surprises; a city of variety. If you are bored with one street, just walk another block or turn at the next intersection and chances are you’ll encounter something different. The scenery will change. For instance, on Dundas West you leave the downtown core just after University Ave., walk past OCADU, the Art Gallery of Ontario and Grange Park… next, through a section of Chinatown at Spadina and then immediately into the Kensington Market area. Just south of Kensington is the redevelopment of Alexandra Park…. and you’ve only walked a few blocks.

below: The newly renovated OCADU annex building on the southeast corner of Dundas and McCaul is now called the Rosalie Sharp Pavilion. The curve of the roof contrasts nicely with the sharp edges of the neighbouring buildings

below: The northeast corner of Dundas and McCaul is yet another hole in the ground. The Art Gallery of Ontario and Rosalie Sharp Pavilion are in the background. I am beginning to feel like a broken record player when I mention yet another condo construction site (tangent – is there a 21st century equivalent to “broken record player”?).

below: The demolition of the buildings on Dundas West opens up new views of St. Patricks RC Church.

below: Around the corner from St. Patricks, is Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church and its bilingual signage and beautiful red door.

below: Krispy Kreme (yes, they still exist!) and Jimmys Coffee on McCaul in almost identical buildings. Like twins but with a dash of their own personality.

below: Thing 1 and Thing 2 running down the alley

below: …but not this alley. That’s a lot of stairs!

below: Each building has it’s own character from years of changes and modifications as people come and go. They may not be good looking but they are often unique – someone’s little piece of the city.

below: Front yard patio

below: Critters in the window

below: An old TTC streetcar loses its load. By the looks of it, this image will disappear once the ivy comes back to life in a few weeks.

below: Put together by the ‘Long Time No See Photo Project’, “Chinatown, the Best” is a collection of portraits that highlights seniors in the Chinatown area along with their thoughts and opinions on what makes Chinatown great.

below: The posters are on display over eight locations on Spadina and Dundas West.

Chinatown poster series on residents, in windows and door on Dundas

Left to right:
1. Come and work out in Chinatown.
2. Chinatown is my looking glass. Newcomers come thru finding support to enter Canada & I go back thru to understand where my ancestors and I come from. Keep Chinatown strong!
3. Chinatown is my ancestral village. In 1892 Great-Grandfather Charlie Yep laid down family roots in Montreal – but the early years of international racism gave way to self-loathing Kungfu? Chinesey food? Aiiyah!! Standing defiant in a martial arts pose is a testimony to overcoming my denial. I am Chinese-Quebecois Canadian. Au bout!
4. For making Chinatown the Best, Lily draws on her spiritual energy medicine knowledge to develop a healing relationship with the living landscape and its inhabitants to foster the restoration of the area’s sluggish energetic anatomy and amplify its vibrational health and wholeness.
5. deu say lin yeung im ah im duck!

below: In another Chinatown window is this display – pictures of food with four old black and white pictures.

below: The picture on the far right depicts Shanghai Bund and river waterfront so it is possible that the other photos are also of Shanghai? Or at least cities in China?

below: Another window with pictures – this time The Kensary, a cannabis store in Kensington.

below: A close up of part of the window showing Casa Loma, Roy Thomson Hall, Hughs Room, the El Mocambo, the Silver Dollar, Massey Hall, and gabled Victorian era houses

below: Hoardings on Spadina where a skeleton reaches out for passers-by.

below: Kensington view of the CN Tower

below: Facilities at Bellevue Park – more than just “all gender”

below: Wanted poster for Putin the war criminal

below: There’s at least one Maple Leafs fan left!

below: Jumblefacefoto collages

below: Alexandra Park redevelopment progresses. Dundas West is the northern edge of the 16 acre site owned by TCHC (Toronto Community Housing Corp). Most of the original units that were built in the 1960s are now gone.

below: Apparently it’s okay to be white. Actually it’s okay to be brown, or black, or any shade in between too.

below: Anarchist piano lessons?

below: “They say death takes you to a better place but I doubt it” Me? I’m in no hurry to find out.

more than a pile of skulls

Posted: October 14, 2021 in locations, public art
Tags: art installation, Built on Genocide, CHIPPEWAR, Harbourfront, indigenous, Jay Soule, Luminato Festival, Meryl McMaster, Ontario Square, photography, posters, skulls

There are two public art exhibits now on display at Harbourfront’s Ontario Square. The first is “Built on Genocide” by by Jay Soule aka CHIPPEWAR which is part of this year’s Luminato Festival …. “In the mid-19th century, an estimated 30 to 60 million buffalo roamed the prairies, by the late 1880s, fewer than 300 remained. As the buffalo were slaughtered and the prairie ecosystem decimated, Indigenous peoples were robbed of their foods, lands, and cultures. The buffalo genocide became a genocide of the people” (quote source: Luminato website)

below: The centerpiece is a pile of Buffalo skulls.

below: Surrounding the skulls are posters that highlight and criticize government policies towards First Nations including (Prime Minister) Sir John A. Macdonald and his “Magic Eraser”, i.e. the Indian Act of 1876.

below: The poster on the left references the adoption of First Nations children by non-Native families often referred to as the Sixties Scoop because it reached its peak (most adoptions) in the 1960s. The plight of Indigenous women is the subject of the other poster – the disproportionate number of whom have been murdered or went missing.

There is also a display of large photographs by Meryl McMaster.

below: What Will I Say to the Sky and the Earth II.

below: On the Edge of This Immensity

below: As Immense as the Sky

Future Perfect

Posted: October 12, 2021 in locations, public art
Tags: CONTACT, Contact photography festival, exhibit, Future Perfect, King St. West, Maldives, Metro Hall, Nico Krebs, photo exhibit, photography, Taiyo Onorato

on King Street West

On display by Metro Hall on King Street West are a dozen large images created by Taiyo Onorato and Nico Krebs. This installation is part of the Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival.

The pair took photographs in the Maldives. The fragile environment of these small islands (in the Indian Ocean) is exacerbated by the fact that they are barely above sea level. There are more than 1000 islands that make up the Maldives and 80% are no higher than a meter above sea level. Most are uninhabited.

Onorato and Krebs have manipulated some of the prints with various methods and in doing to “they create quasi-abstract images that inventively describe their perceptions of place. Fusing reality and imagination, their suite of images are powerful fictions that confront undeniable facts. ” (quote source: Scotiabank Contact website).

go for the photography, stay for the love

Posted: August 1, 2021 in events, locations, people, public art
Tags: alley, Christ Donovan, Curtiss Randolph, Dunstin Brons, emily may rose, graffiti, hearts, Jesus, Maximum Exposure 26, New Generations, photography, Quran, reflections, RIC, Ryerson Image Centre, Ryerson University, statue, William McElcheran, Yonge Dundas Square

Yonge and Dundas and thereabouts

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

Adelaide & Peter

Posted: July 9, 2021 in construction, locations, public art
Tags: Adelaide St., CNE swings, dancers, graffiti, hoardings, Holly CHang, images, JAYU, Johnny Wu, Leilah Dhoré, Nawang Tsomo, paste ups, Peter St., photography, Radha, Sherry Yu, skateboarder, slaps, Stephen Attong, STEPS initiative, Toronto Makes Good

below: Southeast corner of Adelaide & Peter

below: West side of Peter at Adelaide

below: Still standing – Second Empire style from the late 1850s, with a mansard roof that was added a little later. Just north of it, a 47 storey condo is being constructed.

below: On the hoardings at this construction site on Peter, is “Toronto Makes Good” a photo exhibit hosted by JAYU and The STEPS Initiative that features the work of nine young people (ages 18 – 29).

below: “Swing Summer Away” by Johnny Wu. Taken at the CNE

below: “Toronto Waterfront Silhouette” by April Beatson. Taken at one of the wave decks near Harbourfront.

below: “Members of a Nicaraguan Dance Troupe” by Tenzin Dorjé. Taken at a performance at Mel Lastman Square.

below: “Game 6” by Stephen Attong. Raptors fans celebrating on the streets of Toronto after the team won their first NBA Championship.

Other photographers with images on the hoardings: Holly Chang, Leilah Dhoré, Nawang Tsomo, Radha, and Sherry Yu.

below: Saving the old facade

below: Some things can’t be saved.

northward on Parliament

Posted: May 28, 2021 in alleys, locations, old buildings
Tags: cabbagetown, cemetery, Darling Terrace, doors, houses, Jamii, Looks Like Us, Lord Dufferin school, mural, photography, reflections, Rupert Hotel, Serra Akcan, St. James Town, stores, windows

below: Looking through a store window in the Distillery District towards the intersection Parliament & Mill.

below: Photography exhibit “Looks Like Us” hanging on the fence around David Crombie Park. The exhibit was produced and presented by Jamii in partnership with The Journal.

below:: Photo by Serra Akcan, Istanbul

below: Looking northeast at Parliament and Adelaide

below: Parliament and Queen Street East

below: Queen Street East

below: Embedded in the sidewalk, a memorial to those who died in the fire at the Rupert Hotel.

“Rupert Hotel Fire – On December 23rd 1989 a fire roared through the Rupert House Hotel, a licensed rooming house on this site. Despite the heroic efforts of firefighters and several tenants, ten people died in the blaze, making it one of the worst fires in the history of Toronto. The tragedy sparked action by municipal organizations to improve the conditions in rooming houses throughout Toronto. This plaque was dedicated by the City and the Rupert Coalition in a special ceremony on May 18, 1993 in memory of the ten who died: Donna Marie Cann, Stanley Blake Dancy, Edward Finnigan, Vernon Stone, Vincent Joseph Clarke, David Donald Didow, John Thomas Flint, Ralph Orel Stone, Victor Paul Whyte. ” (more…)

the new Cherry Street bridge

Posted: November 13, 2020 in construction, locations, public art
Tags: bridge, Cherry Street bridge, Commissioners Street, construction, CONTACT, demolition, dirt, ESSROC, Framework, photography, Port Lands, Ryan Walker, silos, soil, spike, tbonez, urban ninja squadron, Vid Ingelevis

The latest attraction is the new Cherry Street bridge pictured here just after its arrival by barge from Nova Scotia where it was manufactured by Cherubini Group. It’s a shiny white steel bridge with a red racing stripe. It is 57 metres long and wide enough to carry LRT tracks and a pedestrian walkway. Another identical bridge to go beside it for road traffic comes later.

below: Digging up the city. Sometimes it seems like we are living in one big construction zone.

The bridge is not the only “sight” at the Port Lands. There is also a photography exhibit of pictures taken of the buildings before they were demolished. ‘Framework’ by Vid Ingelevis and Ryan Walker. This is part of the CONTACT Photography Festival that was originally scheduled for May.

below: Interior, 130 Commissioners Street (Coopers Iron and Metal, an old metal recycling facility). The photograph is mounted on the roll-up door of one of the ESSROC cement plant silos – now a heritage site.

below: Cleaning the streets. The ESSROC silos dominate the streetscape here on Cherry Street (looking north towards the condos in the Distillery District).

below: The back of one of the few remaining buildings as seen from Cherry Street. It fronts onto Munitions Street.

below: Cherry Street bascule bridge in the upright position. Most of the Framework exhibit is down the center of Villiers Street on top of the remains of the old railway line. There are five panels like this one, each with a picture on both sides.

below: Most of the Port Lands redevelopment is occurring behind fences.

below: A very large spike!

below: 130 Commissioners Street, September 2019

below: Abandoned gas station with its rusting gas pump.

below: 99 Commissioners Street, July 2019

below: 97 Commissioners Street, August 2019

below: Commissioners Street closed to traffic.

below: Control room, Cherry Street bridge, July 2019

below: 130 Commissioners Street, September 2019

below: An old Urban ninja squadron sticker on a TTC bus stop sign

below: Dump truck on Villiers Street

Later: Just before sunset, the new bridge in the Keating Channel. It has since been rotated ninety degrees into the proper alignment for the new segment of Cherry Street. This job was made it easy by the fact that the bridge was mounted on a large turntable on the barge. It now has to be welded into place. The old bastule (lift) bridge now in place is slated for demolition in late 2021.

‘Framework’ will be on display until August 2021.

in the alleys near Queen and Spadina

Posted: September 21, 2020 in graffiti and street art
Tags: bald eagle, birch trees, daught calm, Elicser, feelings boi, frontline workers, Graffiti Alley, Greg Mike, Jim Bravo, kone, lambourghini, lanes, mural, Obey, people, peru143, photographers, photography, pink panther, posing, Queen Street West, Queen West, ROC, ROC(514), Rush Lane, Shepard Fairey, slaps, stickers, stikman, street art, walking, Zianna Oliphant, zonr

below: Older street art in an alley behind the north side of Queen Street West

below: Although it was painted in 2015, Greg Mike‘s message of “Stay positive” still applies.

below: Elicser‘s mural of a woman with a bald eagle fling over the city.

below: Keep calm and meow on!

below: The birch forest painting by Jim Bravo is still at Queen West and Denison.

below: Also remaining, is the remnants of this stikman although he is now covered with a fresh coat of paint.

below: Truth phone in Graffiti Alley, by Mike Salisbury

below: A ROC bird character in collaboration with kone

below: A tribute to frontline workers in Rush Lane. Treaty 13 between the British government and the Mississauga of New Credit is also known as the Toronto Purchase.

below: Pink panther

below: Stickers and slap on metal – zonr, feelings boi, and peru143

below: Two more stickers. Daughtcalm on the right and Obey, aka Shepard Fairy, on the left.

below: There is an “Obey Eye” mural on the side of a store on Queen West (near Portland) that was painted in 2014. It is on the upper level and in a small side alley. The words in the mural say OBEY never trust your own eyes always believe what you are told.

below: Part of the Black Lives Matter tribute murals that were painted back in June. Zianna Oliphant was the girl from Charlotte North Carolina who spoke for black rights at a council meeting after a fatal shooting of a black man by Charlotte police. Also, note the altered yellow sign that now says “Watch for Injustice”.