ArtworxTO: Toronto's Year of Public Art 2021–2022 is a year-long celebration of Toronto’s exceptional public art collection and the creative community behind it. This exciting initiative supports artists and art projects that reflect Toronto's diversity and creates more opportunities for the public to engage with art in their everyday lives.
The arts sector is an essential component of a vibrant community and plays a key role in the city's economic recovery from the pandemic. Working closely with artists and Toronto’s arts institutions the City of Toronto is delivering major public art projects and commissions from fall 2021 to fall 2022. This year, explore your city and discover creativity and community–everywhere.
ArtworxTO Hub NORTH | Downsview
Across its natural settings, our vibrant urban park is hosting a series of new murals, graphic art, multimedia works, photo-based pieces, virtual tours, artist talks, and an exhibition titled ALLCITY Shine, curated by Danilo Deluxo McCallum. At the Downsview Hub you will also find exhibitions by Jane Street Speaks, North York Arts, BSAM (Black Speculative Arts Movement) and Zahra Siddiqui.
Programming Partners:
North York Arts has curated a series that engage people of all ages that began in March 2022! Programming includes an upcycling art exhibition "We CAN do it," Pow-Wow dance lessons, "African Beats" fitness program and so much more.
Jane Street Speaks presents Aspire to Inspire – The Exhibition
Jane Street Speaks is a platform dedicated to supporting local artists from the Jane and Finch Community. To create safe, positive spaces that encourage art, healing and therapy through the power of unity.
XOXO Downsview transforms the Downsview Lands into a canvas for arts and cultural collaborations. Early partnerships prioritize artists and organizations that are local, young, and from Indigenous, Caribbean and African communities.
Current & Upcoming Exhibits:
ALLSTYLE | 40 Carl Hall Rd
ALLSTYLE is a massive mural collaboration creating space for BIPOC Street Artists, Graf Writers and Muralists to express their best selves, cultural identity, and unique style with the aim to unite our communities. The 360 foot long mural brings together 9 talented artists from across the spectrum, shining light on ALL styles of mural expression exploring themes of ancestry, ethnicity as well as inner strength and radiating one’s internal shine.
143 (I LOVE YOU) For All To See | Orchard Pavilion
143 (I LOVE YOU) For All To See is a photography project that considers Black life at the level of loving relations, exploring various manifestations of love from the familial to the romantic. Black love is acknowledged, elevated and celebrated through images that are both testimony and inspiration. In this context, "I love you" is both a proclamation and declaration, revealing strength through vulnerability.
143 is a numerical shorthand in common usage during the early 1990s when pagers were ubiquitous as personal communication devices. With limited space to send a message, various codes were developed to communicate, such as and 411 (“send details”). 143 was shorthand for "I love you," each number corresponding to the number of letters in each word. The images in 143 I LOVE YOU represent meditations on what Black love means to Black people.
Flowers for You: The Face of Islam | Downsview Hub
The FACE OF ISLAM captures 25-40 portraits that illustrate the diversity within the Islamic Community in Toronto.
The idea came from the recent violence against a Muslim family in London, Ontario. It was another reminder that the Muslim community needs to feel uplifted and loved. The Muslim community needs to feel seen and valued for their existence. It is also meant to educate the World on what the FACE OF ISLAM looks like and not what the mainstream media portrays.
Zahra hopes this series will empower those who need it and open the hearts of others, who may think otherwise. The FACE OF ISLAM is meant to challenge people’s ideas and hopefully channel energy from their hearts, to move from a place of Humanity.
XSITE 2022: Nanda-Gikendan | Meadow
XSITE is a collaborative interdisciplinary public art installation that celebrates the symbolism of traditional cosmology. The modular structure can be manually rotated by the public to locate the positions of the seven visible planets, channeling their symbolic meaning through light and sound.
In 2022, XSITE is called Nanda-Gikendan which means "seek to know it" in Anishinabemowin. This exhibition will feature multimedia experiences inspired by the cosmology of the Anishinaabe. From the Summer Solstice to the Autumnal Equinox, audiences can participate in a cosmic architecture layered with 3D holographics and frequency-healing sound baths based on the intersection of Seven Sacred Ancestor Teachings with astrological concepts explored in the previous iteration of the exhibition.
The goal of the evolving/revolving exhibition is to create platforms for conversation about the sacred teachings of diverse BIPOC traditions, centering the shared origins of metaphysical concepts.
