Gallery Studio One

Graffiti adorned streets of the Kensington Market neighborhood in Toronto are part of this city's DNA.

Parietal art is a chronicle of our human evolution. Figurative paintings found in caves as far apart as France to Indonesia are between 30,000 to 45,500 years old. Yet, Street Art as a public expression of dissent is a relatively new phenomenon that dates back to the 60s.

What started in 1965 as a scrawl of the singlei word 'cornbread' across a cell wall in a Philadelphia juvenile correctional facility, soon became a symbol of peace, protest, and ultimately counterculture. Over the years, Street Art became larger with bolder colors and messages. Graffiti murals made art accessible to masses all the while bringing awareness to important social issues such as civil rights, consumerism and environmentalism.

Walking around Kensington Market, it's hard not to notice the contradiction of consumption and its counterculture; the hidden alleys with their skillfully painted Graffiti vs. half-drunk lattes in plastic cups abandoned on the sidewalk.

The very human nature of Big Ideas and small action.