Toronto Inclusive Safety Mural
Located at Lord Dufferin Public School in Toronto, Ontario (Canada)
Created by:
Toronto-based Artist Waseemah Khan & Lord Dufferin PS Students
For this Nudge Art mural, our Lord Dufferin students wanted to focus on community, equity, safety, and belonging.
After several workshops discussing Inclusive Safety and learning about Human-Centered Design, Community Organizing, and the genEquality Activations, the students of Lord Dufferin, along with muralist Waseemah Khan, came up with a design that visualizes their values and represents the people of Regent Park.
The students wanted the design to include one of the characters listening to something that emanates the specific values that they choose to stand for: community, equity, inclusion, teamwork, and safety. After learning about Color Theory, the students gravitated towards vibrant colours to further visualize their strong belief in their values. This is the first Nudge Art mural to include some Shades of Equality, which bring even deeper meaning to the symbolism of the mural: Head of State Mauve and Equality Purple in the hijab outfit, C-Suite Blue and Share the Work teal in the African dress outfit, Literacy Blue in the bench and rainbow, Never Justified Green in the bottom shade of the grass, and Wage Gap White and Pay Parity Black in numerous spots throughout the mural.
The interactive feature of this mural invites people to ‘sit’ with the mural characters. There is a pipe located in front of the bench, which allows a viewer/visitor to give the illusion that they are sitting on the bench with the 3 characters beside them, with a flower crown above their head. Lastly, the small silhouettes of people playing soccer, jumping rope, taking a stroll highlight that everyone is welcome and the importance of socializing and communicating with one another within the community.
Toronto is one of the most diverse cities in the world, and it was particularly important for the students to showcase the diversity of Toronto’s Regent Park community. This includes the six different skin shades in the mural’s Toronto skyline, the three characters sitting on the bench with different ethnic and cultural backgrounds, and the words “You Belong Here” in six different languages that are spoken in the Regent Park community: English, Vietnamese, Arabic, Tamil, Bangla, and Mohawk.
~1 Minute Mural Creation Video + Behind-the-Scenes Photos
Interested in seeing more of our Nudge Art murals?
Bronx - Manhattan - Queens - Staten Island - St. Nicholas Houses - Townsend Harris HS - Wagner Houses
Resources
Interested in learning more about what you can do to advance gender equality daily?
Check out the 10 genEquality Activations to learn about how you can advocate for and make change through your daily beliefs and behaviors. We share 10 core beliefs and behaviors that you can practice; they touch on social cues and cultural norms, daily communications (language and humor), and economic equality behaviors, choices, and values.