Transforming the Tunnel

There is always talk in our neighbourhood about the tunnel. It is considered dangerous to walk through alone, especially at night.   Right now the city is waging a war against graffiti so every week the tags are covered with a coat of beige paint.  I am referring to the Melrose tunnel. I live in the St. Raymond's district and the people in my neighbourhood use this tunnel routinely to access Sherbrooke Street and upper NDG.

Last year, I had an idea that I felt would transform the tunnel into a more positive space.  Since I was on the Board of Action Communiterre, I  approached Kelly Krauter, the head of the community-based group,  with the idea of having people in the neighbourhood do their own self portraits and hang them in the tunnel, thereby making the tunnel into an art gallery and a more positive space for a day.   I thought we could hang the portraits on the day of our annual cyclothon with the hope of attracting more people to join us on our annual bicycle tour of Action Comuniterre’s collective gardens.  I wrote a proposal and received money from the Sandra Frosst Memorial Grant for Citizen Engagement from the NDG Community Council to do a pilot project.  Project Media agreed to participate and our first set of portraits were made.  I then set about looking for more money and we were able to make portraits at several of the collective gardens; Garden of Thyme, a garden for parents with young children located in St. Raymond’s and at Racines Des Paix, which is located near Ecole Enfants Du Monde.  We focused on these two gardens because they were the gardens with children.

Our three days of making portraits with these groups were exhausting but exhilarating.  At Thyme, the children were eager to do an art project that went beyond what they might have done before.  Mothers and children worked together to decide what poses to make, what colors to use, what clothes to glue on.  At Racines de Paix, we were suddenly reminded that not all children have access to art and self-expression, as many of the kindergartners were simply awed by the size of their canvas, the feel of paint on their fingers, and the power of permanently creating something about themselves. There was a moment when both Estephania Marset, the child animator of the garden, and I looked at each other wondering what we had gotten into, but in the end we loved the portraits by the kindergarten kids.  What they lacked in technical skills they made up for with movement, texture and passion. Some of them proudly pulled parents over to the garden when they came to pick them up to show them what they had made.  We had to shift gears again to work with the older students, who dived into their portraits with gusto--at one and the same time showing their capability and their innocence in choosing how they would represent themselves to the world.

The day of the cyclothon finally came.  At 8:30 am,  Yvette Salinas , the child animator from the Garden of Thyme, and I met to hang up the portraits. Italian ladies passing through the tunnel on their way to church were our first spectators.  They smiled and complimented us as they walked through.  As we worked various people made their way through the tunnel.  Many of them stopped to look at the art work and then to talk.  Two women asked me when and where we made the portraits and wondered if their children could be involved next time.  “My daughter would love this.” one woman said.
Finally the cyclothon arrived.  Estephania had called all the parents of the kids from her garden to get permission for them to participate in the cyclothon so they could see their art in the tunnel.  She even borrowed bicycles for kids that didn’t have them.  One little boy who had made a fabulous portrait of himself playing soccer was particularly moved to see his painting exhibited and kept talking about how cool it was. After the cyclothon passed, Yvette and I made the decision to keep the portraits up for the rest of the day, while we went to the Harvest Party, where the cyclothon would end up.  There we ate a healthy lunch made with food from our gardens and cooked by our gardeners.  The kids participated in a scavenger hunt and people from the different gardens had the opportunity to meet.  At the end of the day we crowded into a room in the Rosedale United Church where each garden made a short presentation and we watched a preview of the film Project NextGen was working on about the gardens and the portrait project.  Over the noise of little children playing,  people read poems and stories about their experiences in the gardens.

After the party I headed back to the tunnel to take down the portraits.  There were four or five people hanging out in the tunnel looking at the art.  Instead of the blight of the neighbourhood, for one day the tunnel was transformed into a destination to hang out in.  As I started to take down the portraits, the people hanging around all volunteered to help me.  Someone commented, “It’s a shame they can’t stay.”  As I folded up the portraits I agreed. In the end, what was depicted in the Melrose Tunnel was a, a spectrum of the people in the neighborhood--the joys, hopes, and messages they chose to share.

The Portrait Project was funded by the following: The Sandra Frosst Memorial Grant for Citizen Engagement of the NDG Community Council, Action Communiterre, Kathleen Weil, Peter McQueen and Omer Des Serres.  We hope to expand this project, make it accessible to more people, create more portraits and beautify more negative spaces next year.  If you wish to volunteer you can contact me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or to donate money you can click on the “Donate Now” button on our homepage.  Just specify that you would like the money to go to the Portrait Project in the box that allows you to give instructions.  Thank you to everyone who supported this great project.

Here is the link to the video:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1SWqRUMaNQ

By Melanie Stuy