In Toronto, we hope to spread the message: "black lives matter". Forty artists have revisited "Graffiti Alley", an alleyway in downtown Toronto famous for its multicolored graffiti, with drawings and portraits in honor of the anti-racist movement "Black Lives Matter".
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The frescoes, mostly produced in different levels of black and gray, contrast with the bright colors of the other paintings in this popular tourist alley, located south of Canada's largest city. The illustrations represent in particular eminent figures of the black community, such as Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, or victims of police violence.
A Martin Luther King tag, made in Toronto's Graffiti Alley. Cole BURSTON / AFP
Among them: George Floyd, an African American whose death last month at the hands of the Minneapolis police caused an unprecedented wave of demonstrations in the United States and around the world. The portrait of George Floyd represents him with a tape over his mouth, which reads "I can't breathe" , in reference to the last words he said while he was tackled to the ground by a police officer. "But we can hear you," replied the graffiti artist who composed this drawing in writing.
The start of a conversation
The project, carried out last weekend, is a "peaceful demonstration" which aims to "raise awareness" and "show the support" of artists to the anti-racist movement, explains AFP Moises Frank, who helped federate graffiti artists around this initiative. "Using art as a tool to speak out against oppression is a beautiful and powerful way to protest," said the 25-year-old. “People are waking up and realizing that (racism) is a problem we can no longer pretend to ignore. I hope we are only at the very beginning of the conversation ” .
One of the murals depicts a black panther with orange eyes, a tribute to the activists of the Black Panthers. Another shows a raised fist above which one can read "We continue to fight for black lives" .
A black panther with orange eyes, a tribute to the activists of the Black Panthers. Olivier MONNIER / AFP
Moises Frank, for his part, chose to paint the face of Zianna Oliphant, an American girl whose speech in 2016 in the city of Charlotte, in the United States, following the death of a black man, shot by a policeman, had marked the spirits. "To see this little girl (...) burst into tears while talking about the injustices suffered by her community, it was powerful and moving," he explains. "I hope that in the course of her life, she will see things change . "
