This Toronto artist is painting and donating 100 Nikes for vulnerable youth. Here's why
A Toronto artist is painting and donating 100 pairs of Nike Air Force 1s to show that hope can be laced into a pair of sneakers.
At 15-years-old, Daniel Mazzone, now 42, slept in a park behind the Art Gallery of Ontario, or on a toilet in a mall bathroom with his head folded into his lap. On cold days, he sometimes bought a $2-ticket to a Scarborough theatre, sunk into a seat and closed his eyes.
“I was homeless for five years,” Mazzone told CTV News Toronto. “When I did have a chance to get a pair of shoes, it kind of gave you a little bit of hope … hope that you could move forward.”
That’s why he decided to spray paint 100 pairs of Nike running shoes. Of the 100 pairs, 90 are being given to youth transitioning out of government care and 10 are being auctioned off until Friday to raise money for the Children's Aid Foundation of Canada.
“I spent so many years just in survival mode,” he said. “Towards the end, I just thought, you know, this can't be my life story, this can't be it.”
At 20, Mazzone decided to go back and finish high school while taking a job at a high-end restaurant and painting on the side.
With a paintbrush in hand, he thought back to his time living on the street and the judgment he felt as people walked by and looked down at him.
Daniel Mazzone, a Toronto artist who painted and donated 100 pairs of Nike Air Force 1s.“Wouldn't it be nice if the story of your life was on your skin, like a tattoo? That way when people see you, they wouldn't be so quick to judge, they would understand what you've gone through and really understand who you are,” he said.
For that reason, he crafts labyrinths of intricate designs in the faces of his subjects, which are often blockbuster names like Charlie Chaplin, Audrey Hepburn and Nelson Mandela.
The restaurant owner he was working with when he started painting insisted on hanging one of his pieces in the establishment. Four days later, it sold.
“I quit my job the exact same day they bought it,” Mazzone said. He’s been working as an artist ever since.
“I just really decided that this was something I was going to do and this was something I was meant to do. I never looked back.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Live updates: What star witness in Trump hush money case has said on the stand so far
The star prosecution witness in Donald Trump's hush money trial took the stand Monday with testimony that could help shape the outcome of the first criminal case against an American president.
Police release 3D images of young child found in an Ontario river two years ago
Police have released a three-dimensional image of a young child whose remains were discovered in the Grand River in Dunnville, Ont. almost two years ago.
Kamala Harris drops F-bomb during White House live-stream
U.S. Vice-President Kamala Harris used a profanity on Monday while offering advice to young Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders about how to break through barriers.
When you have a moment's notice to evacuate, what do you take?
Knowing what to have at home, or take with you for an evacuation, can be useful and even life-saving.
Western University researchers unlock potential 'cure' for ALS
New research out of London, Ont.’s Western University is shedding light on a potential cure for ALS, in which the targeting of the interaction between two proteins can halt or fully reverse the disease’s progression.
Canucks' Soucy suspended 1 game, Zadorov fined $5,000 for post-game crosschecks on McDavid
A Vancouver Canucks defenceman has been suspended for a game and another was handed a hefty fine after a scrum broke out at the end of Game 3 against the Edmonton Oilers Sunday night.
'Judge Judy' Sheindlin sues for defamation over National Enquirer, InTouch Weekly stories
'Judge Judy' Sheindlin sued the parent company of the National Enquirer and InTouch Weekly on Monday for a story that she said falsely claimed that she was trying to help the Menendez brothers get a retrial after they were convicted of murdering their parents.
Wildfire smoke drifts across Canada, over parts of U.S., prompting air quality advisories
Air quality advisories are in effect across Western Canada as smoky conditions plague some areas, according to the latest forecasts. Here's where.
'A great victory for the industry': Taxi drivers celebrate ruling that found City of Ottawa negligent in allowing Uber to operate
An Ontario Superior Court judge has ruled that the City of Ottawa was negligent in its enforcement of the city's taxi bylaw when it allowed Uber to begin operating in 2014, harming the city's established taxi industry.