There is a railway bridge that crosses Lansdowne Ave just south of Dundas West. Along the concrete wall on the east side of the underpass is a long stretch of murals painted last year by a group of muralists and street artists. This is “Community Built”.
below: At the south end of paintings…. Ducks and loons in the water; ducks in flight by Nick Sweetman. Most people will recognize the green-headed mallard; the duck with the big black and white head is a male hooded merganser. A female merganser has a similar crest on her head except that it is brown.
Next to the ducks there are people fishing and wading in a creek. This portion was painted by Elicser Elliott.
below: Under the tracks, abstract flowers in yellows and oranges by Chris Perez
below: Black hands and white hands reaching out, by Rowell Soller
below: Kedre Brown (left) and Artchild (right)
below: Scenes on light green by Andrea Manica – a dog, a bee, and a couple of strawberries – walking in heels with coat and hat – sitting on a yellow blanket – a tent, mushrooms, and playing ball.
below: As the years go by we’ll be able to date the artworks of 2020 to 2022 by the presence of masks. That’s assuming that we won’t be wearing them again…..
below: Under a rainbow where nature thrives in a collaboration between Shawn Howe and Mo Thunder.
below: Que Rock
below: A few artists from Red Urban Nation Artists Collective had a section of the wall to paint
below: Part of the RUN Collective, is Ren Lonechild who painted the mother sasquatch with her little ones at the bottom of the stairs. Swooping and swirling around the apes and the stairs are ghostly creatures that are the work of Cedar Eve Peters
below: The view from the top of the stairs from Shirley Avenue
below: by Danielle Hyde
below: A mural with a message that the willow tree is nature’s aspirin. Willow bark contains salicin which is chemically similar to aspirin which also known as acetylsalicylic acid. The salicin chemical structure is shown in this mural by Keitha Keeshing-Tobias.
below: This project incorporated a previous public art installation on this site. Back in 1989 a number of small sculptures, or forms, by Dyan Marie were embedded into the wall of the underpass.
below: This is Leone McComas’s contribution to the ‘Community Built’ project
below: Alex Bacon painted dancers in hazy flowing shades of pink and orange.
below: Two murals.
below: Close up of the cyclist painted by Curtia Wright
below: Two brown figures by kaya joan
below: On the right – a blue woman reclines by a cluster of colourful houses. She’s got one hand on a pink lawn and her feet on a red lawn under a white-leafed tree. This mural was painted by Yasaman Mehrsa.
below: Close up view of the big regal cat by Planta Muisca as it sits on a blue mat by a bowl of papaya and a slice of lemon.
below: Welcome to Little Tibet … standing beside a white chicken by Caitlin Taguibao
below: People from the Little Tibet mural, by Kalsang Wangyal,
below: A mural by Tenzin Tsering on the right – a bonfire where “the flames of the bonfire represent the tradition of oral storytelling and act as a homage to the diverse and unique stories/voices of the people in Tkaronto.” (from her instagram page)
below: And what’s a Toronto mural if it doesn’t have a raccoon?
In the mural two pictures above, the painting on the left is the work of Jordan McKie (aka trip2thetop) The next few images are from that mural.
below: A dragon’s head at the north end of the underpass by June Kim.
below: Looking south
A Mural Routes project from 2021
June, Jordan McKie, Tenzin Tsering, Kalsang Wangyal (waz_graphics), Caitlin Taguibao, Planta Muisca, Yasaman Mehrsa, kaya joan, Curtia Wright, Alex Bacon, Leone McComas, Keitha Keeshig-Tobias Biizindam, Red Urban Nation Artists Collective (Drew Rickard, Danielle Hyde, Cedar Eve Peters, Ren Lonechild and Que Rock), Mo Thunder and Shawn Howe, Andrea Manica, Kedre Brown, ARTCHILD, Rowell Soller, Chris Perez, Elicser Elliott, Nick Sweetman.
Curator and community engagement facilitator: Bareket Kezwer
as I walk Toronto 