Renowned Indigenous artist brings another masterpiece to the Annex

By Rose Haberer

Mural maestro Joseph Sagaj strikes the Annex community again with the powerful blow of his allegorical art. The mural, with all its vibrancy, sits atop the eroding steps of Trinity-St. Paul’s United Church and Centre for Faith, Justice and the Arts.

The weathered steps on the east side of Trinity-St-Paul’s needed urgent repairs and had become a safety hazard, said church general manager Aaron Dawson. However, repairing the stairs was complicated because of the offices beneath them, meaning the church would have to go through the ordeal of digging up the foundation. “Since we couldn’t just do a quick repair of the stairs, we decided it would be better, until we can raise enough money to repair the stairs and hopefully put a ramp in, to cover the stairs and protect them from the elements.” This resulted in a partnership between the Toronto United Church Council, which provided partial funding, and the BIA, who built the wood structure to protect the stairs from further erosion and provide a canvas for the mural. Together, they decided to cover the steps, not with plain plywood, but with colourful art. 

In the early days of the pandemic, the BIA took over some space on Robert Street near the  crumbling stairs to put in dining tables for public outdoor eating. They continued to develop the space, adding flowers and brightening the area. 

Melanie Ramsey, the BIA project lead for Joseph’s mural, described how the mural came into being: “The steps were crumbling at the church, and they didn’t have the budget for repairs. Working with Trinity St. Paul’s, we tried to find a solution. So, the BIA built the infrastructure over the stairs, and then Trinity St. Paul’s, with some grant money, decided they would do a mural. The BIA has lots of experience doing murals, so we helped find an artist, and Joseph was a great fit. So, Joseph painted a small painting, and then we digitized it, blew it up, and wrapped the stairs in a vinyl wrap. The mural ties in with our commitment to beautifying the commercial areas and working with the community.” 

Sitting in the Annex’s Future Bistro on a sunny day, Joseph gave the artist’s digest of his new work as well as the inspirations and stories behind it:

Joseph’s, who is Anishinaabe, path to artistry stemmed from his harrowing experiences at the residential school in Fort Frances. “We would take turns cleaning up the supervisor’s room. I remember looking at the drawings that were pinned up on his mirror and on his walls, and I used to think, oh my god, I wish I could draw like that. I would dream about it. When I went back to my reserve, everybody had skills. Some knew how to hunt, some knew how to make snowshoes or go fishing, that kind of thing. So I learned how to draw. And that’s how I started.”

Joseph’s dedication to preserving the stories of his cultural roots and making sure that they are heard, is showcased by the odes to Indigenous tales that he places around the city. An example of this is the 86-foot mural in Paul Martel Park called Interconnected. The mural, like an ancient scroll, wraps around the park. It consists of seven different segments that shapeshift together as one narrative. But how does his new piece take inspiration from Indigenous storytelling?

Sagaj tells me how the storytelling in all of his pieces reflects how stories were told to him. “The way they were told to us was more metaphoric, so we really had to pay attention. The elder would come with his pipe, loading it and smoking it, and then he would start off very calmly. Silence is a tool for attention. That’s how he strategized his storytelling. Sometimes there would be a dozen of us just waiting and waiting. There were no movies or devices. Adults had those but not us kids. We relied on storytelling.”

Finally, Sagaj gave me the brushstroke breakdown on his new piece outside Trinity St. Paul’s Church.

Initially, he presented three options to the BIA and the United Church. Both parties, as well as Joseph, found the first one too graphic. “I wanted to put the truth on the table. Sometimes the truth is hard to swallow, ” Joseph added. The second option was a softer attempt. Finally, the third option, which Joseph based on a piece called Checkmate, by German artist Mordes Wrecks, was selected. 

The tale behind Joseph Sagaj’s piece is like a matryoshka doll of stories. Hanging in the Louvre, Checkmate was originally thought to represent the moment of defeat, symbolized by a man being put into checkmate by his opponent. It was thought to portray humanity being lost to destruction, and the man’s opponent symbolizes Satan; however, Joseph explained that this interpretation is false. 

“There’s this man from a tour group staring at the painting. And he said, ‘You know, I’ve been looking at this painting. I’ve been studying it, and I’m a champion chess player. You either change the name of the painting or you replace the painting, because I’ve studied the game and the positioning of these players, and the king has one more move.’”

Joseph, using the same positionings of the original chess pieces, adorned the mural with fragments of his culture and identity. 

“The gentleman on the left is what appears to be a devil. He’s ready to claim the soul of his opponent, who has no more moves. But that’s just what it appears to be,”

Joseph explained. In his rendition of the painting, the losing player holds in his hands a tangible piece of hope and a powerful symbol of Indigenous culture: a tobacco tie. 

“A tobacco tie is a reference to offering a prayer to the Creator. That’s the way we interpret that. We interpret it also as an acknowledgement and thanksgiving for life. So that’s what the man on the right is holding, this prayer that he gets out of the situation. So, there’s divine intervention. He’s losing hope that he can get out of this situation, because the devil appears to be claiming his last move, right?”

He connects back to the original painting, and how he added to the story.

“There’s a bee or fly on the edge of the table, but I replaced it with a butterfly. The butterfly symbolizes a metamorphosis, so I painted a young woman, floating above the chess board implying that this woman has evolved from this situation, by way of divine intervention. She’s ascending away from this, from this circumstance. She’s transformed.”

Joseph morphs metaphors on a whim, taking every object in the original painting and giving it his own new meaning, even the chessboard that the players are sparring on. “The chessboard is already symbolic. It’s floating off the table. It’s an illusion that the devil’s creating, saying ‘I claim you.’”

Joseph connects his work to Truth and Reconciliation and how there is a great lack of it. He points out that there are 94 Truth and Reconciliation calls to action but only 11 have been implemented. 

“I was trying to portray this systematic positioning of the game. When the government and church gathered, just imagine what they were talking about. What are we going to do about these Indian people? They’re savages. They’re uncivilized. Well, we gotta turn them into white people, We gotta kill the Indian. That’s the expression: kill the Indian. And this is what we have to educate the public about by sharing our stories and the truth.”

When asked about how he connects personally with his piece, he discussed how he overcame the struggles of being a residential school survivor and the painting’s message of rising above and transforming. 

“I was a residential school victim so I have had some terrible experiences. Some people didn’t make it, you know. And many that did, couldn’t carry this load, this heavy load, this heavy burden that they experience. I’m lucky. I survived somehow, maybe through divine intervention.”

READ MORE:

• FOCUS: Band of Storytellers tells a tale (Sept. 2024)
• NEWS: Parkettes win Urban Design Award (Fall 2023)
• ON THE COVER: New mural in the Annex (Jan. 2023)
• NEWS: New mural celebrates Indigenous storytelling (July 2022)
• ON THE COVER: Renewing Martel’s vision (Nov. 2020)
• NEWS: Mural reveals eco-anxiety (June 2021)
• FOCUS: Park set for eco-restoration (Nov. 2020)
• LIFE: Paying homage to local characters (Oct. 2020)
• NEWS: New mural for Major (Dec. 2019)
• ON THE COVER: Laneway lit up (October 2018)
• CHATTER: Painted streets launch in Kensington (SEPTEMBER 2016)
• ON THE COVER: An Annex bee celebration (JULY 2016)
• NEWS: Ossington laneway gets a mural makeover (Aug. 2012)
• NEWS: Façade facelift: Lee’s Palace iconic mural is back (Nov. 2010)