Image via twitter / STEPS Initiative 

Despite Rob Ford’s recommendation earlier today that we call 9-1-1 if we see graffiti going down, there’s no need to be alarmed on your way out of Sherbourne station. Local street artists will be at work throughout the month of August to bring an enormous mural to the wall of a community housing building in St. James Town. The project is being funded by StreetArt Toronto, in a STEPS iniative to see how the community can be changed by public art. Seems that some people think street art is a unifying and expressive form of art, one that is not actually ruining this town.

The theme of the new mural is hope and prosperity. “The design will work with the motif of a bird soaring up, emblematic of a phoenix rising, to counter the negative stereotypes associated with St. James Town,” reported STEPS. It will also play tribute to the spot’s history, standing at the site of the fire that left over a thousand highrise residents homeless in 2010. The colourful pheonix will look down on the entrance Sherbourne station on the side of the residential building at 200 Wellesley Street E. 

Last night volunteers met at a community consultation to finalize plans. Painting began on July 29, and the final product will be unveiled in September. The new heritage mural will be the city’s tallest public installation and could break the world record, bringing a cool sight of pride to the St. James Town spot.