The City’s Face is Shaped by Colours
Joshua Best
Joshua is a photo journalist who has worked and traveled in many places around the world. He is currently based in Toronto.
Toronto is a massive and incredibly diverse city, the largest in Canada, the sixth largest city in North America. Yet, Toronto is more defined by its communities and people rather than its geography, architecture or industries. People from all over the world have moved to this city to make it what it is today, that’s the city’s true strength. Torontonians celebrate this diversity in many different ways.
Kensington Market, the heart of Toronto. This small neighbourhood, in the middle of the city’s Chinatown, has been the artistic and cultural hub for Toronto for decades. It’s home to musicians, poets, and a multitude of artists. In the summer the market closes its narrow streets to cars and opens them for pedestrians only on Sundays. People from all over the city crowd the laneways, bars, and coffee shops to enjoy food and to experience the array of art and music the neighbourhood is famous for. Here, a local Capoeria (a form of Afro-Brazilian martial arts) school practices on Baldwin street, one of the main streets of Kensington Market.
If there is one event that defines Toronto’s summer, it’s Caribana. The annual Caribbean festival happens on the last weekend of July and has been ongoing since 1967. The Grand Parade itself is a wonder to behold, thousands of brightly dressed participants in the event make their way along Lakeshore Blvd to the booming sounds of Reggae and Soca music. Many of the participants, known as Mas Players, belong to rival bands, competing with one another during the parade. The smiles are endless and the energy is contagious throughout the day.
One cannot talk about Toronto without mentioning winter. It defines roughly six months of the year here. Due to Toronto’s humidity, the winters are usually bone-chillingly cold. Often in the end of January and the beginning of February, when the ice is thick enough and the weather stable enough, many Torontonians take to the ice on the city’s frozen ponds. Games of shinny hockey and skating are common sights. People are just happy to be outside and they enjoy the real magic of winter.
Pride is another massive event that really brings the city together. Pride is part activism and part celebration within the large and very diverse LGBTQI2 community of Toronto. The centre of which is located in “The Village” — Church and Wellesley. At the end of June, the streets of the village are packed with throngs of people dancing and partying. The pride parade brings out people from all walks of life and backgrounds to celebrate the vast spectrum of love.
