Graffiti Alley – first visit of 2026

Posted on January 14, 2026 by Mary C

This blog post is a quick look some of the “art” that can be seen in Toronto’s Graffiti Alley at the moment. There is lot on display even though I only walked between Spadina and Portland so this post focuses on the murals and larger paintings that I saw. The smaller stickers and paste ups will be in a subsequent post (sooner rather than later I hope!).

below: Blue birds and big ugly black dogs.

below: A portrait of Volodymyr Zelensky in Ukraine’s blue and yellow colours.

below: Daisy, in rabbit ears

below: On one of the corners, there is a long grey mural with bits of red….

below: “A lone samurai known as Ghost stands on watch”. A story and a mural by Dewucme

below: Portraits painted on skateboards – there has been a collection of such portraits hanging here for at least a year. I am not sure if these three are newer, or if I just forgot them last time. (Link to blog post of skateboards from 2025)

below: Portrait by Bunso

below: Other part of the above mural, but painted by a different artist (I think)

below: In memory of Andre Campbell

below: Behind the Queen Street stores

below: Painting on hoardings as downtown redevelopment (and subway construction) slowly encroaches on the Queen and Spadina neighbourhood.

below: “Find peace in your chaos” Plus, it seems to be wearing shirt and tie but it’s also drooling and looking just a little unhinged!

below: Monstrous television screen head with bloody gums and matching tie.

below: “Who you gonna call?” Ghostbusters green slimey thing!

below: He’s got one big eye and a scowl on his face. There’s a burning cigarette in his mouth and the Ace of hearts is tucked into his hat band. Quite the character.

below: Not all cats are cute?

below: A woman with her purple hair tied up with little glowing (but ghostly) lanterns in a mural by MonkYi

below: Climbing green onions (scallions?)? An upside down blue goose? … And in the middle, yellow siu mai (Chinese open-topped steamed dumplings, a dim sum favorite), all images from the imagination of Mixt Paints aka Kelcy Timmins Chan

below: There’s that snowman again, but on a different wall and surrounded by graffiti

below: Ninos Libres, by Kalaruno

below: Another Kalaruno painting

below: At least it’s a step up from tagging…..

below: A green finger on the trigger.

below: Blue. And strange looking. He’s hanging out in the doorway.

below: An introspective dragon

Photos taken January 2026

Yerevan Armenia

Posted on June 20, 2018 by Mary C

black stencil of a man holding a megaphone in one hand and with the other hand raised in a fist, words in Armenian written below it.

Street Art in Yerevan, the capital of Armenia.

word stencils on top of each other on a wall, one in black says Government is not a mafia, red words in Armenian

three faces partially merged together in a mural

mother and daughter figures in black on a wall, mother is guiding daughter forward, standing on lines that are either heart beats or a chasm

yerevan street art, man's head, black hair and beard

large man in blue and white, older man, small black stencil beside it of another man's head

yerevan street art, man's head, black hair and moustache, red shirt, black bird on top of his head

stencil of a rifle with the words defend yerevan around it, also a sticker of a man's face in pink and orange that says with Pavel on it.

yerevan street art, man's head, black hair and beard, red bow tie, on yellow wall

yerevan street art, man's head, black hair and beard and moustache, wild eyes, on concrete that is crumbling a bit

pasteup on a sun shape with long rays, a black and white creature in the center

paste up of a person in black and white, hood and mask, yellow background

colourful mural of soldier's head, with uniform and hat

yerevan street art, man's head, in profile, black hair, beard, with yellowish face, words say Yerevan World Book Capital 2012

ice cream cone line drawing in blue and a yellow bumble bee sticker

pink stencil written on the sidewalk (pavement) that say Make Moves

two faces, reefa and leticia

Posted on July 19, 2017 by Mary C

There are many murals that feature images of faces, both male and female, in Wynwood (Miami). Two of them are featured here.

The first is a large blue young woman with flowing grey hair, painted by Leticia Mandragora. Her eyes contrast sharply with the rest of her face. Mandragora is an Italian/Spanish street artist and tattooist. Her blue faced woman have been painted in a number of places in the USA. They all seem to have grey hair too.

mural by Leticia Mandragora of a girl with a blue face and a long head scarf in grey that trails to the left, along with three flowers

close up a large girl's face painted blue in a large mural, greenish eyes, head scarf on her head

The second mural is a memorial to street artist Israel Hernandez (aka Reefa) who died after being tasered by police in August 2013. The portrait in the center portion was painted by Axel Void while a number of other artists contributed to the edges.

long horizontal mural by Axel Void with a young man's head inside a white circle in the middle, the edges are faces in pastel colours, stylized

center of mural, a young man's head and face, a portrait of Israel Hernandez, aka Reefa, by Axel Void

below: Justice for Reefa

stylized faces in pastel colours, at the edges of a tribute mural to reefa, painted by a number of different artists

Fashion Street, Shoreditch

Posted on December 1, 2016 by Mary C

The following pictures were taken in September 2016. This was my second visit to the area and I have already blogged about my first visit in March 2016. See ‘People of Fashion Street’. A few of the works from the spring still remained in September but there were also a number of changes.

below: The musculature of a man as he walks amongst the skulls and bones of other men, a pasteup by drsc0

pasteup of a man showing his musculature, like a standing body with the skin removed. He is standing in front of rows of skeletons. A pasteup street art piece by drsc0

below: A mural of a woman’s head (she lasted all summer) by Mr. Cenz

blog_mural_woman_face_magenta

below: A wall with graffiti as well as a painting by neoh of a ballerina whose multi-faceted face appears to be in motion.

wall with lots of street art and graffiti, paste ups and posters

below: Pirate, Jolly Roger bombs falling from the sky and a partial Poison pasteup.
If consumed, plan funeral.

street art, red bombs with black skull and crossbones wings,

below: Bill Murray keeps an eye on that marshmallow guy while Freddie Mercury sings along with the help of a collage of people and images.

graffiti and street art on fashion street in shoreditch east london, paper paste ups of actor Bill Murray's head looking upwards with the marshmallow guy from the movie Ghostbusters above it, a paper paste up of Freddie Mercury singing with his body made of a collage of other pictures and peoplr

below: Freddie Mercury again, this time with a starry eyed tiger.

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below: Another street art collection on Fashion Street. The top pieces are the same as seen in March but there have been changes on the bottom.

a brick wall on Fashion Street in Shoreditch that is covered with a lot of paste up pieces of graffiti and street art

below: The top part of the wall above. Still here – Stikki peaches James Dean paste up man, Rebel with a cause. A purple beaver, pistachio shell art, and a drawing by costah complete the picture.

blog_costah_pasteup_sticky_peaches

below: Additions to the lower part of the wall. Face the Strange and Endless coca cola cans with visual innuendo. Also, someone is trying to tell us that they are well and they are happy although they look quite blue and empty.

pasteup on a wall, collage of overlapping layers of pictures, jumbled up together,

below: Face the Strange lego headed man and a partial City Kitty face

graffiti and street art on fashion street in shoreditch east london, paper paste up from face the strange of a man in suit and tie with a red lego brick as a head. little yellow lego heads in a pattern in the background. Also part of a cat head elaborately drawn and colored with the words city kitty mows 510

below: Syd’s ‘why so serious?’ Joker was there before as was the image of Liza Minnelli in the red and white top. Unfortunately the paper has been torn from wrdsmith’s typewriter so the words can’t be read anymore.

blog_shoreditch_graffiti_wall_images

below: An endless woman, a dog and a man with a green tie.

three large pasteups on a brick wall, a woman in an orange skirt and jacket by endless, a large growling dog who is running - head and front part of body are complete, back part of body is just the skeleton, and last is a man with longish hair, a multicoloured suit and a green tie.

below: Under the watchful eye of a surveillance camera, a taosuz poster warning you about the harmful effects of icons. Can you name the people?

graffiti and street art on fashion street in shoreditch east london, a poster with black and white pictures of mens heads with the words Icons seriously harms you and others around you

below: You see things and say why?…. but I dream things and say why not? The sunset mural is by Low Tech Designs, a group of artists who work with youth to teach them graffiti skills and to promote the positive side of graffiti.

two murals. on the left, a large white cloud with yellow eyes and three white upper teeth is spitting out a rainbow that someone has written pride on the top of . The other mural is a sunset scene with a palm tree and beach in silhouette in the foreground, purple sky and water, yelloish orange sun and reflections in the water.

below: No Banksy no cry

on a black wall, two small stencils, one is a white ghost head with big black oval eyes and the other is the words: no banksy no cry

below: A mural painted in the memory of Muhammad Ali who died June 4, 2016.

blog_mural_memorial_boxer_fighter

below: The many abstract faces of Costprice.

a photo of a costprice store, an off licence beer, wine and spirits merchant, as well as food. A painting of multicoloured colourfuil abstract faces covers all surfaces.

below: Two between the doors.

blog_graffiti_between_doors_exterior

below: Gava? Oui, gava.

graffiti and street art on fashion street in shoreditch east london, paper paste up of a drawing of two insects with large globe like tails, one is asking gava? and the other says oui gava

below: A soldier on horseback, and a targeted mother and kids.

blog_graffiti_endless_horseman_target

below: Black and white drawing of folded paper – a sculptural forms of a rabbit nipping at the tail of a fox. It’s the work of Annatomix.

graffiti and street art on fashion street in shoreditch east london, paper paste up of a drawing in black and white that looks like folded paper rabbit nipping at the tail of a folded paper fox