Artist(s): Walter Anastasi, Marlon Castro, Christian Carrizo, Hee Duk Choi, Will McIntosh, Charles Wakefield with instructor John Hood and coordinator David McClyment
Producer: Mural Routes
Category: Removed
Completed: 2008
This mural is the result of a joint project between The Fine Arts Studio Program, The Centre for Creative Communications at Centennial College, Toronto and Mural Routes – the first course of its kind to provide formal training in the development and execution of public murals. The course consisted of two parts: Part 1: four lectures/seminars on the context, administrative, and professional concerns of mural painting; Part 2: 10 intensive days of hands-on, on-site training to complete this mural.
In 2008, The Wall Art Course partnered with East York Parks and Recreation who provided an appropriate site: a public washroom in Taylor Creek Park (Woodbine Ave. and O’Connor Drive): a beautiful ravine location, situated on a park path, busy with strollers, runners, and cyclists. The mural wraps around the three walls visible from the path. Prior to the mural, this site had been the target of frequent graffiti tagging.
The Course also partnered with Amnesty International Toronto to participate in Project: Urban Canvas, a mural series celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by highlighting selected articles of the Declaration. In this case, the mural focuses on Article #7: “All are equal before the law and entitled without discrimination to equality before the law”.
The approach of this mural adopted a “super-hero” interpretation of Article 7. The design depicts the beneficial rule of law as heroic armoured figures; these archetypes personify the liberating, civilising and protective aspects of a just legal tradition.
At the centre of the image, figures representing the family of humanity dance around a torch symbolizing truth and justice, free to celebrate peaceful civilisation under the protection from the forces of lawlessness and chaos (represented by dragons at either end of the mural) provided by the eternally vigilant heroes (symbolising law) that protect them.
Where to Find This Mural
Location: Taylor Creek Park, Dawes Road, East York, ON, Canada | Get Directions
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