Toronto Street artwork mural for the lgbtq community
Back on June 1st I passed a art mural in progress.. and because it said “Love transforms” on the mural – I used #lovetransforms on my post here. I got invited to a short film screening last night explaining what that mural is all about.. because of that hashtag.. .
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Thanks to @sineadbr of @mercedesbenzcanada for inviting me ! I was thrilled to see the film & understand what this mural is about. Most of the time when people pass murals they don’t realize that there are stories behind them and even strong messages.
This artwork is by iamnatte . who unfortunately, wasn’t there yesterday. But this is for a digital campaign by MercedesBenz to bring awareness about using homophobic and transphobic language.
I posted a garage door that had “When You Love Someone Let Them Know” written on it just yesterday. An uplifting message that like that is very rare. Back in April a gay man @markitproud found “Toronto Hates Queers” on his garage door with some other hurtful messages in the vicinity.
Love Transforms Mural
This mural and campaign encourages “healing and shows the transformative power of art.” The other words on the mural says “You’re Wonderful” “Be Proud” “Hold on it gets better” and “We’ve all got your back”. It does hurt to be called names. I was called ‘faggot’ before I even knew what the word meant. As a kid I looked it up and it said ‘a bundle of sticks. Then people call you a ‘fag’ which the dictionary defined as ‘british slang for cigarette’. Then you get ‘homo’ and ‘queer’ and it just gets unbearable after awhile when you are coming of age. Kids used to say sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me. That is so not true.. bruises heal but the mental torment sticks around forever.
Close up of Toronto Street Art
I was a little shocked that twenty years since i’ve had to deal with that crap .. there are others who still are. My friend after the event said he had the same experience as I did growning up. Hopefully, this campaign will do some good because it seems insane to think that 20 years from know kids going to school might still be called ‘faggot’ or ‘homo’ just because they seem a little ‘different’. .
Happy Pride Weekend !
