Meet the artists adding splashes of colour to downtown London

Along the grey brick road on Dundas Street in downtown London, local artist Amsa Yaro has thrown in splashes of bright colour, music and dance.

She was approached by the London Arts Council to design banners, planters and a kiosk on the marquee block on Dundas Place, which is home to the London Music Hall and TAP Centre for Creativity.

Her planters depict characters shaking tambourines, playing horns and banging on drums. She said her goal was to add a bit of fun to the downtown core, and to give commuters a reason to stop and smile.

“When you have art in your community, art in the city, it shows that the city itself is trying to make life worth living,” said Yaro, standing beside one of her designs.

“Life isn’t complete without those types of moments, without those types of little nuggets here and there, those treasures that we catch. And a lot of the time, it’s the arts around you that gives you that.”

Yaro was one of the artists commissioned to create designs on Dundas Place. The project is part of a growing number of art installations popping up throughout the city, which Yaro said provides artists with opportunities to share their work with a wider audience.

“It’s something that every artist would dream of, to leave your legacy behind in the city you live in,” said Yaro.

The city is also unveiling a series of art installations at new Rapid Transit bus shelters, including at the Downtown Loop, East London Link and Wellington Gateway corridors.

Construction on various Rapid Transit projects has been ongoing for years. As more bus routes open up, local artists such as Tova Hasiwar hope their work provides busy commuters with an opportunity to step outside of their daily routines and reflect.

Hasiwar created a piece of artwork that now sits on top of the new Rapid Transit shelter on Wellington Road and King Street. The installation is her homage to London’s music scene, and is similar in theme to her mural at RBC Place, which celebrates London’s designation as a UNESCO City of Music.

Her artwork at the bus stop includes translucent circular discs that represent vinyl records, as well as five, curved lines representing a music staff. Hasiwar recorded herself saying the phrase, “London City of Music,” and she turned her voice recording into braille. These dots are incorporated into her artwork to show how music is tied to many different languages and forms of communication.

“Whether they like it or they hate it, or they have a strong opinion about what they’re looking at, it’s good to make people pause and think and be curious about the city they’re in,” said Hasiwar.

Local artist Billy Bert Young also created a series of panels for a bus shelter at King and Talbot streets, which he is calling the Corridor of Dreams, named after a song from the band The Cleaners From Venus.

If commuters have a moment to pause and take in his artwork, he hopes his installation takes them on a visual journey. He used pastel colours to create a variety of scenes and characters that blend into one another and resemble comic book illustrations.

“I create these impossible worlds, one where certain things overlap that in the real world could never overlap,” he said. “I wanted to capture the liveliness of the city, but also within that, the chaos.”

Like Hasiwar, Young hopes public art will give people a reason to reflect on the various cultures, histories and even challenges that make up the city they live in.

“Especially in a busy city, especially one that is imperfect, there is room for beauty and there is room for these moments where you can just sit back and spend some time and take a break and just enjoy culture that’s happening before you,” he said.