Several large black and white photos depicting key figures of the Black Lives Matter – Toronto movement were torn open in the city’s downtown overnight.
The large black-and-white prints, called The Sum of All Parts, are on display as part of the Contact Photo Festival in front of Metro Hall on John Street.
Photographer Jalani Morgan said he received a post on Instagram depicting damage to three of the canvases on Sunday morning.
He said he was prepared for something like this to occur.
“In fairness I knew that it was going to happen, but you can’t figure that it actually will happen.”
In response he decided to seal the tears in the canvases with bright red thread.
“I just wanted to stitch it — the stitching is just sort of a way in which I can deal with it,” Morgan said. “The red really allows for people to respond and see what happened here.”
Later, he said the red stitches are also a way for him to communicate back to the person who damaged the canvas.
But when he was interviewed by CP24 on Sunday afternoon, he said he didn’t want to convey a message to the culprit.
“I have no care to make a message to that person, because this is not about them.”
The three images that were damaged included an image of a young man demonstrating against the police practice of carding, a woman in a hijab speaking at a microphone and a portrait of Black Lives Matter co-founder Sandy Hudson.
The images are on display until May 31 as part of the Scotiabank Contact Photo Festival.
Toronto police said they received a report about the damaged canvases on Sunday morning and are conducting an investigation.
They say they will review surveillance camera footage from the area.
