Sight Gives Flight, 2016
LOCATION: 250 Westlake Ave.
ARTIST: Elicser Elliot
LETTERING: Insight1
Website: http://www.elicser.com/
Copyright 2017, Public Art of Toronto. All rights reserved.
Enter Elicser Elliot and Insight1. They have created an absolutely gorgeous mural that is warm and welcoming but is also meant to shake you up a little bit. Standing against the Toronto skyline is a beautiful urban angel, nurturing the neighbourhood as one would a garden. Completing the image are the words: “Sight Gives Flight”, written in Insight1’s distinctive script.
The words, in particular, hold much power. According to Zahra Sight Gives Flight is meant to be a call to action for the community and to “get out of denial and really heal collectively”. In other words, to open their eyes, examine the roots of hatred, and find a way to collectively work together in order to move forward and build a community where everyone can grow and thrive.
Sight Gives Flight, 2016
LOCATION: 250 Westlake Ave.
ARTIST: Elicser Elliot
LETTERING: Insight1
Website: http://www.elicser.com/
Copyright 2017, Public Art of Toronto. All rights reserved.
This is a pretty heavy topic for a mural, and yet the work feels completely optimistic. The colours are bright and hopeful. The angel is serene as she tends to the lotus flowers located on roof-top gardens. Her wings are outstretched but relaxed. Elicser has done a tremendous job giving her an ethereal, otherworldly feel. And yet for all that, she never seems alien. Often when I view angels or other religious iconography, I get the sense of ‘otherness’ from them. Not here. His angel seems completely at home. There is no doubt she would loan you a cup of sugar if you needed it. This angel is very much an integral part of the neighbourhood.
Much like the Old’s Cool General Store itself.
The title for this piece is taken from the lyrics of Depeche Mode’s song People Are People:
People are people so why should it be
You and I should get along so awfully?
Public Art of Toronto 