The latest in a string of 30 murals, each dedicated to an article of the United Nations
Declaration of Human Rights on its 60th anniversary, has gone up on a building opposite the
Arts Etobicoke offices at 4893A Dundas West.
Known as
Urban Canvas, the Amnesty International Toronto-sponsored project has so far resulted in 12 murals around the city, mostly outside the downtown core.
"Good walls for murals are hard to find," says AITO's Elena Dumitru in an email, "and we've had lots of challenges with trying to find walls in downtown Toronto (none so far, generally the available ones are used for advertising purposes as far as we know)."
The mural, dedicated to
Article 13, is being touted as "Toronto's longest outdoor poem," and was commissioned by Arts Etobicoke from
Toronto Poet Laureate Dionne Brand. The owner of the building on which it's painted is Pierre Seunik, head of the PS Group of Companies and president of the
Islington Village Business Improvement Area.
"We showed him the poem," says Arts Etobicoke's fundraising and communications manager Ruth Cumberbatch. "We contracted an artist to create a design and ran sketches by him. The only thing he had concerns about where things like if they have to do snow removal in the alley, we wanted to make sure they wouldn't wreck the mural, so he asked us to keep it up a certain height."
The designer is
Susan Rowe Harrison and the artist is
William Lazos.
The 1,000 square foot mural was unveiled yesterday.
Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Ruth Cumberbatch, Elena Dumitru
Do you know of a new building going up, a business expanding or being renovated, a park in the works or even a cool new house being built in the neighbourhood? Please send your development news tips to [email protected].