photos | as I walk Toronto

Posts Tagged ‘photos’

legs, we walk on them

Posted: May 15, 2015 in locations, people, public art
Tags: art, CONTACT, installation, Isabelle Wenzel, legs, Metro Hall, pedestrians, photography, photos, Toronto, walkers, walking by, women

Figures and Models of Surfaces,
by Isabelle Wenzel,
on King St. West at John (by Metro Hall).
Part of CONTACT Photography Festival.

“I’ve got two legs from my hips to the ground
And when I move ’em they walk around
And when I lift ’em they climb the stairs
And when I shave ’em they ain’t got hairs.”

“I’ve Got Two Legs” by Monty Python’s Terry Gilliam

That’s the sort of thing that went through my head as I took these photos.

All photos are self-portraits of the photographer.
Legs as sculptural elements – colour, shape and composition.
Legs as objects – objectification of the legs is now complete.

These legs were made for walking. Not.
Just walk on by.
More silly thoughts as I watch people walk past the pictures.

below: The blue tones of Metro Hall provide a backdrop.

Fun. Great installation.

alley bunnies

Posted: March 23, 2015 in graffiti and street art
Tags: 416, abm crew, abmcrew, bunnies, city, downtown, graffiti, Graffiti Alley, graffiti animals, photography, photos, poser, Queen St. West, rabbits, stairs, street art, tags, tdot, Toronto, urban, urban art, walls

Back to Graffiti Alley for the first time this spring… well, for the first time since the snow melted since I’m not sure you can call it spring yet!

Here are a few poser and abm crew bunnies that I saw.

Memory Unearthed

Posted: February 17, 2015 in galleries
Tags: AGO. Art Gallery of Ontario, black and white, exhibit, gallery, Henryk Ross, historic, historical, Jewish, Memory Unearthed, negatives, photographs, photos, Toronto, WW2, WWII

Photographs of the Lodz Ghetto (Poland 1940-1945)
by Henryk Ross,
at the Art Gallery of Ontario until 14 June 2015

Ross was a Polish Jewish photographer and one of the official Lodz ghetto photographers under the Nazi regime.

In the autumn of 1944 as the Lodz ghetto was being shut down, Ross buried his 6000 negatives in jars. The Red Army liberated Lodz in January of 1945 after which Ross unearthed his negatives. Water damaged about half of them. Of the surviving 3000 negatives, about 200 form the ‘Memory Unearthed’ exhibit.

Some of the photos are ordinary pictures – portraits of people, children playing. Other photos look ordinary until you learn the context, what is really happening in the picture. Many photos document suffering and despair. They elicit a lot of uncomfortable emotions but as an historical record the collection is excellent as well as much needed.

gumhead

Posted: February 4, 2015 in events
Tags: #couplandTO, art, chewed gum, creative, Douglas Coupland, everywhere is anywhere is anything is everything, gum, gumhead, head, Holt Renfrew Men, Holts, icky mess, interactive, photos, sticky mess, Toronto

Gumhead is a “gum-based, crowd-sourced, publicly interactive, social-sculpture self portrait” in the words of Douglas Coupland, the artist who conceived and developed this idea.

It sits inside the entrance of Holt Renfrew Men on Bloor St. West.

People are encouraged to add their own chewed gum with the intention that the head will become covered, obscured, and transformed. And people have done so, some with imagination or whimsy.

He now has eyelashes on one eye.

Gumhead is scheduled to remain until March 9th.
And yes, gum is provided…. as is the Purell!

Irene Ave

Posted: January 16, 2015 in graffiti and street art, locations
Tags: African, alley, animals, back, Bloorcourt, buildings, Christie Ossington Neighbourhood Centre, colourful, colours, CONC, faces, graffiti, lane, lion, Loft, loftycsei, man, motifs, murals, people, photographs, photos, street art, Toronto, tribute, urban, woman, youth

Irene Ave. is a short street that runs behind the north side of Bloor Street West between Carling and Shaw streets, just east of Ossington Avenue. Irene Avenue Parkette takes up most of the south side of Irene Avenue. There is an alley that runs between the park and the back of the stores on Bloor West.

The Christie Ossington Neighbourhood Centre, through the Graffiti Arts portion of their LOFT program, has sponsored a number of murals in this alley.

This is what it looked like on a cold afternoon last week.

The next picture was taken in June of 2012.
The mural is still there but I couldn’t take a proper photo of it last week as there was a car parked too close.

When I walked around the block to check out the fronts of these buildings, this is what I found

Street art mural by elicser of three men on a bench. One is smoking a cigarette, one is reading and one is holding a lunch box in his hands.

A mural by Elicser and to the right the LOFT Youth Centre for Social Enterprise and Innovation.

changes under St. Clair East

Posted: January 5, 2015 in graffiti and street art, locations
Tags: bridge, graffiti, path, photos, ravine, snow, St. Clair, street art, tags, Toronto, urban art, water, winter, Yellow Creek

St. Clair Ave East passes over a ravine just east of Yonge St.

a view of the bridge from a path in the ravine from a short distance away. It is winter so there is some snow and ice on the path and the trees have no leaves.

Looking south towards St. Clair

The Yellow Creek flows through this ravine.
To the north, the creek is underground until the south side of Mount Pleasant cemetery.

A view under the bridge, looking from one side to the other across a creek. The curved metal supports under the bridge are visible. There is snow on the ground but the creek is not frozen.

The ground was slippery and the water in the creek was flowing quickly.
In other words, I didn’t cross over to the other side of the bridge.

At some point in the past year the graffiti that was under this bridge must have been “cleaned up”. Since then, new tags have appeared.
Whether they are an improvement over what was there previously is a matter of opinion.

looking up towards the top of a bridge from a path along the ravine below. two concrete supports are visible as well as part of the road way across the top of the bridge. There is a graffiti tag on one of the supports.

southwest corner of the bridge

Two colourful tags on a concrete bridge support, each one is on a different side of the support

SORT and BEGIN

city under siege

Posted: January 2, 2015 in general Toronto
Tags: building, closures, CN Tower, condos, cones, construction, cranes, downtown, fence, photos, repair, road closed, roads, signs, site, skyscrapers, Toronto, traffic, trucks

Construction, it’s everywhere.
I’m not sure if it’s my imagination but 2014 seemed to be the year that the city was torn apart in the name of changes, development and/or improvements.

A white hard hat sits on the end of a large wooden spool. Blue gas cylinders are behind it.

on break

How many cranes are in the sky?

downtown cityscape with tall buildings as well as the CN Tower. Lots of construction cranes in the picture.

looking towards the CN Tower from Soho St., just north of Queen West.

Men on a crane working above a hole in the ground where a new condo is being built.

Yet another crane at work, on Adelaide West.

How many kilometres of road have been dug up or blocked off?

Yonge street is closed by a large crane that is parked in the middle of the street.

Yonge north of Davisville one summer day. Removing a crane that was used in condo construction.

Near Eglinton West subway station. Construction of the Eglinton LRT impacts traffic on Eglinton Ave.

Near Eglinton West subway station. Construction of the Eglinton LRT affects traffic on Eglinton Ave.

Cars trying to merge from three lanes to one. Large sign with arrow pointing left. Tall buildings on either side of the street. Yellow leaves on the trees because it is October.

Adelaide St. West

a section of city street is being renovated. The pavement has been removed, construction equipment and vehicles are in the picture. There is a 'road closed' sign.

Another street under repair. York St., looking south towards Queen St. and Richmond St.

How many holes have been dug?

A construction site, hole in the ground, large yellow crane, red dump trunk and a large fence around the site. A church is in the background.

Dufferin and Adelaide

How many orange and black cones adorn our streets?

Black and orange traffic cones along with a yellow fence block traffic from entering a construction site at an intersection where new street car tracks are being laid.

New streetcar tracks at King and Sumach.

How many kilometres of fencing have been erected?

construction site surrounded by both metal fence and blue mesh fence

double fenced

How many years will it take to finish Union Station?

looking west on Front St. towards Union Station. Construction equipment is in the foreground of the photo. The CN tower is in the background.

Looking west on Front St. The renovation and upgrade of Union Station and it’s impact on Front Street has been ongoing for a long time now. Maybe one day it will be finished!

What construction will 2015 bring?