Black Lives Matter Street Mural, Toronto, Ont
- Creator
- Yung Yemi
- Title
- Black Lives Matter Street Mural, Toronto, Ont
- Coverage
- 43.65482, -79.402144
- Description
- "Black Lives Matter" is painted in various colors and patterns on the pavement. Each letter was created by a different individual artist, giving the piece a diverse, mosaic-like look.
- Source
The Black Lives Matter street mural in Toronto was created, like many around the nation, in response to the murder of George Floyd. This particular mural was created on July 1, 2020, which is Canada Day (Canada’s day of recognition for their independence) (Gladysz, 2020). The giant street mural was reminiscent of many across the United States and contained the simple message of: “Black Lives Matter.” It was placed in Toronto’s Kensington Market, which is a multicultural market in downtown Toronto that was already known for its vibrant murals (Beaton, 2017). It takes up almost an entire block on Augusta Avenue.
The primary organizer of this mural — and the protest that accompanied it — was Yung Yemi, a street artist from Toronto. He thought it would be a good idea to have each letter be painted by a different artist to create a “mosaic” look. In total, 16 artists helped to create this mural (AGO, 2020). Yung had a friend who was familiar with the inner workings of the local city council to get a permit for the event, which took around 8 days from start to finish. Even though they received permission from the government that did not mean they received funding for the project from them. The artists funded the project themselves because they believed in the message they were spreading. They took to the streets because black artists are often omitted from creative institutions, and as Yung put it: “We just want the community at large to understand that we are out here and we will continue to do cool shit with or without the support of the larger creative community in Toronto” (AGO, 2020).
Sources:
Gladysz, K. (2020, July 2). Giant Black Lives Matter message painted on Kensington Market street. DH News. Retrieved March 17, 2023, from https://dailyhive.com/toronto/black-lives-matter-augusta-kensington-market
Beaton, B. (2017, August 14). Kensington market. The Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved March 17, 2023, from https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/kensington-market#:~:text=Kensington%20Market%20is%20an%20open,people%2Dfriendly%20Pedestrian%20Sundays%20events.
Paint it black. Art Gallery of Ontario. (2020, July 29). Retrieved March 17, 2023, from https://ago.ca/agoinsider/paint-it-black
Researched by Danny Fagen
Image URL
News Coverage by AGO and BlogTO
Tweet by BlogTo on July 01, 2020
Instagram post by Romana Kassam on July 02, 2020- Rights
- Artist: Yung Yemi
Photographer: Sukoon Sen
Images are collected in this archive for educational purposes and are not intended for commercial use. Reproduction rights for all images remain with the creators/photographers when we are able to identify them.
We seek to identify artistic creators when they want to be identified, and we respect their rights to protect their identity should they choose to remain anonymous. Please contact us if you are the creator of work in this archive and you wish to be identified or if you wish for your work to be removed from the archive. - Publisher
- Urban Art Mapping Research Project
- Date
- 2020-07-01
- Contributor
- LA
- Spatial Coverage
- Located on Augusta Avenue in Kensington Market from Baldwin to Nassau
- Is Referenced By
- Stephen Larrick, Black Lives Matter Street Mural Census
