The Toronto Sun
September 10, 2007
Powerful painting: Mural depicts diversity, unity
By Nicholas Davis
Kennedy Park straddles Kennedy Rd. between St. Clair Ave. E. and Eglinton Ave. E. Due to the railways that enclose this neighbourhood, it’s affectionately known as the Scarborough Junction.
One of the busiest and most vibrant cultural meeting places in the community is at the corner of Kennedy and Eglinton.
The multicultural mix there is rich. It includes Chinese, South Asians, Caribbeans, Africans, Europeans, Canadians and Filipinos — all living, working and playing in relative peace.
Sixteen year-old Sara Siddiqi spent this past summer working in that Kennedy Park area in a donated room at the 85 Gilder Dr., Toronto Community Housing complex.
“We worked seven hours a day for seven weeks,” says Siddiqi, who lives north of the Scarborough Junction, in the McCowan Rd. and McNicoll Ave. area. “It was long hours for a summer job, but in the end we all felt it was worth it.”
The “we” she is talking about are the other Scarborough youths who worked with Siddiqi this summer on an artistic project designed to leave a lasting impact on their community.
Arts For Children Toronto (AFC) hired six young people from Scarborough, aged 15 to 18 from various ethnic backgrounds, to design and paint a public mural 3.5 x 7 metres.
Siddiqi was volunteering at an Afghan women’s organization when a woman there asked if she was interested in the job.
“Ever since I first saw some murals downtown Toronto, I always wondered how professionals did that kind of work,” says Siddiqi, who started painting when she was in elementary school. “So I applied for the job and luckily I got it.”
Sidontae Wilson, Alex Turner, Inthuja Karunanithy, Mandy Chu and Wendi Everick are the names of the other young people who worked with Siddiqi this summer. Together they decided they wanted their mural to “express the wonders” of harmony and unity within the community. They all contributed their own motifs for the project and then let their arts mentor, Jim Bravo, help them decide which ones would work best on the mural.
“When we first brought the drawings together I thought some of the ideas wouldn’t work,” Siddiqi says. “But after we started working on the project I saw how they all fit together.”
The end result is a spectacular, large-scale public artwork that colourfully combines themes of diversity and the environment. The mural features children of diverse backgrounds playing in a field filled with colourful flowers and surrounded by two big trees.
Tied to the trees are two clotheslines with flags from around the world hanging on them, and on the top border of the mural are these words: When one tugs at a single thing in nature, one finds it attached to the rest of the world.
“It just means that everything is connected in some way,” says Siddiqi, who was born in Afghanistan. “And I hope everyone takes that message away with them when they see our image.”
The mural was unveiled last Friday on the exterior wall of the Coffee Time Donut Shop at Kennedy and Eglinton. “It felt really good to see it up there,” Siddiqi says. “It made me feel like I accomplished something.
“But the best part about the job was getting to meet and work with Sidontae, Alex, Inthuja, Mandy and Wendi. I didn’t know any of them before we got the job, but now we’re friends and we’re going to maintain ties with each other.”
Siddiqi says she wouldn’t mind doing another mural project, but with school starting last week she has to focus on her studies. “I want to go to university so I can study law or become a doctor, so I need to keep my grades up.”
Right now though, thanks to the efforts of six youths, a mural hanging off a wall in Scarborough’s Kennedy Park community is lifting up the spirit of a community.
