Colourful painted stick figures topped with mosaic circles are springing up on a Toronto underpass. On their own, they don’t look like much, but when they’re completed on June 10th, they will become something that is powerful – a true example of the sum being greater than all the parts.
The stunning mural, called "Album", is meant to depict a traditional family album with images of anything but the traditional family. Created by Arts Etobicoke and Red Dress Productions, Album is inspired by article 16 of the Declaration, which speaks to the rights of all men and women to marry and to have a family.
"When we read this declaration, it was interesting to us because it was written in the late ’40s and marriage means something so different now," explains Tristan R. Whiston, who collaborated with fellow artist Anna Camilleri, on the project. "As a queer or trans person, marriage takes on a different concept to me than it does to someone else, and it’s just interesting to see how the words ‘marry’ and ‘family’ can change over time."
The mural also celebrates the contribution of LGBT athletes to sport. It’s an important concept, coming just two months before the Toronto 2015 Pan Am and Parapan Am Games. It also comes on the heels of an international study titled: "Out in the Fields: The First International Study on Homophobia in Sport". The study found that found only 1 per cent of respondents "believe LGB people are completely accepted in sporting culture". The same report noted that 46 per cent believe "LGB people are not accepted at all" or "only accepted a little".
"When we were brainstorming about this work, it was at the time of the Sochi Olympics, and there was a lot in the media about the Sochi Games, homophobia and what the LGBT athletes were facing," Camilleri explains. "There’s this whole continuum of discussion about sexual orientation, athleticism and what an athlete looks like. We thought this is an opportunity to further this dialogue, and challenge the ideas our society still puts forward about both what it means to be an athlete and the idea of family."
Whiston, himself, faced discrimination as an athlete in younger days. "I used to box as a female and what was so funny to me is that there was this idea that if you were tough as a female you must be a lesbian, so fellow female boxers went out of their way to point out they weren’t gay and their protest was actually homophobic," he remembers.
Anna and Tristan, co-directors of Red Dress Production, led local community workshops to create a variety of mosaics that will contribute to the final artwork. "It’s essential for us to engage the community because we really want to communicate with people," says Whiston.
"Art making is fundamentally about communication, dialogue and emotional connection, so inviting people into the process means the conversation is deeper," furthers Camilleri. "It’s so important for non-queer and non-trans people to work with queer and trans people to promote equality so it’s not always up to that one out-athlete who’s constantly having to fight those battles," adds Whiston.
Camilleri is a multi-disciplinary artist who incorporates creative writing, visual art, and performance. She has been a writer-in-residence at the Triangle School, Canada’s first and only alternative high school for LGBT students, and has designed and built numerous community-engaged public artworks.
Whiston also carries a varied portfolio, working in independent theatre as a director, writer, and performer for over 20 years, and exploring an array of social issues including gender identity among LGBT youth. He is also an acclaimed audio artist and has created numerous public artworks.
Album is the latest of a series of human rights themed murals created by artists and community-based groups throughout the Greater Toronto Area in collaboration with Amnesty International’s Project "Urban Canvas" to celebrate the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
This mural, which will live permanently under the Dundas St. W. bridge near Lambton House in Toronto, is also on the Pan Am Path, an 80-kilometre continuous trail for walking, running, cycling and wheeling that connects the city from east to west. The path was endorsed by Toronto City Council as a Host City Showcase Program of the Pan Am and Parapan Am Games.
The vision of the Pan Am Path is to combine the power of art and sport to create a living path across Toronto. From May 16th to August 15th, 2015, the Pan Am Path is the venue for a city-wide Art Relay of installations and events. Each week a unique arts festival takes place along a different part of the path. Album is only one of the powerful and thought-provoking art installations that will remain on the path once the Art Relay is over, and may prove to be one of the most important legacies of the Pan Am Games.
According to Whiston, the goal of the Art Relay is already being met. "As I’m working on this mural, people are stopping me and I’m spreading the story of the Art Relay. Everyone is so excited. This gets us out of our houses and out onto this beautiful path – and it’s free. To add art and animate the path, so that people can experience it in a whole new way, is the cherry on the cake."
