9 Untitled by Moises Frank, North Etobicoke Mural Project, StreetArToronto, 680 Rexdale Boulevard, Etobicoke, Toronto, ON
Excerpt from webapp.driftscape.com/map/e03170fe-7511-11ec-8000-bc1c5a8...:
Untitled by Moises Frank: At this point talking to black squares on zoom became a normal part of my everyday cycle. Rinse and repeat, program after program. However, this group opened a window of fresh air. A rather unlikely amalgamation of people from different walks gathered to explore public art and specifically mural making. As the weeks progressed, I would soon be able to connect familiar voices to new smiles turning their cameras on for the session.
I was tuning in from my small but cozy apartment on Weston Road. We discussed in great depth the fundamentals of colour, composition and murals we thought were whack whilst drinking tea and listening to some chill lofi music. When the time came to start designing this mural we had lengthy debates on how to represent something without it being too obvious or too tacky.
We found ourselves contemplating a laundromat. Sort of an odd place to represent diversity, however the more we conceptualized the more meaning started to unfold. I thought about the laundromat in my building. A truly communal space. A space where you would meet neighbours you didn’t know you had.
I thought about the laundromat my mom went to and ended up working at in Rexdale. I thought about the people that went there, the different cultures, the different scents, different fabrics, different stories intersecting in this common place to clean; to carry and to care for these articles that in some way are an outer representation of something internal. We may have dressed differently or used different soap, but this was a uniquely human task. Everybody needs to wash their underwear.
The following weeks we shared stories of clothes and materials that were personal and meaningful to us and brainstormed different ways to represent our collection. We imagined a clothesline that held and united our diverse fabrics and patterned clothing as symbolic flags waving proudly together.
It’s deeply satisfying to reflect on the small black squares becoming a small window into someone's home and deeper yet a small window into someone's being. I am honoured to share space and manifest ideas into spray painted murals.
9 Untitled by Moises Frank, North Etobicoke Mural Project, StreetArToronto, 680 Rexdale Boulevard, Etobicoke, Toronto, ON
Excerpt from webapp.driftscape.com/map/e03170fe-7511-11ec-8000-bc1c5a8...:
Untitled by Moises Frank: At this point talking to black squares on zoom became a normal part of my everyday cycle. Rinse and repeat, program after program. However, this group opened a window of fresh air. A rather unlikely amalgamation of people from different walks gathered to explore public art and specifically mural making. As the weeks progressed, I would soon be able to connect familiar voices to new smiles turning their cameras on for the session.
I was tuning in from my small but cozy apartment on Weston Road. We discussed in great depth the fundamentals of colour, composition and murals we thought were whack whilst drinking tea and listening to some chill lofi music. When the time came to start designing this mural we had lengthy debates on how to represent something without it being too obvious or too tacky.
We found ourselves contemplating a laundromat. Sort of an odd place to represent diversity, however the more we conceptualized the more meaning started to unfold. I thought about the laundromat in my building. A truly communal space. A space where you would meet neighbours you didn’t know you had.
I thought about the laundromat my mom went to and ended up working at in Rexdale. I thought about the people that went there, the different cultures, the different scents, different fabrics, different stories intersecting in this common place to clean; to carry and to care for these articles that in some way are an outer representation of something internal. We may have dressed differently or used different soap, but this was a uniquely human task. Everybody needs to wash their underwear.
The following weeks we shared stories of clothes and materials that were personal and meaningful to us and brainstormed different ways to represent our collection. We imagined a clothesline that held and united our diverse fabrics and patterned clothing as symbolic flags waving proudly together.
It’s deeply satisfying to reflect on the small black squares becoming a small window into someone's home and deeper yet a small window into someone's being. I am honoured to share space and manifest ideas into spray painted murals.