Part of StreetARToronto's StART (Street Art Toronto) underpass beautification program, the Pharmacy Avenue Underpass features large-scale Indigenous-themed murals commissioned through the program. Lead artist Jarus collaborated with community members and Indigenous stakeholders on works that weave Haudenosaunee and Anishinaabe visual language into the Scarborough streetscape — one of the few east-end underpass projects with a strong Indigenous curatorial voice.
Neighbourhood: Scarborough · Address: Pharmacy Ave underpass, Scarborough (near Pharmacy Ave & Danforth Ave) · Hours: Open 24 hours · Price Range: Free · Editorial status: Not yet verified
The Pharmacy Avenue Underpass brings large-scale Indigenous art out of galleries and into Scarborough's everyday streetscape, offering a striking visual narrative you won't find elsewhere in the city. The carefully curated murals are a thoughtful collaboration between lead artist Jarus, Indigenous artists, and community members.
Unlike most Toronto mural projects, this underpass is one of the rare east-side sites curated with direct Indigenous leadership and storytelling. It features visual elements drawn from both Haudenosaunee and Anishinaabe traditions, making it far more than aesthetic décor—it's a visual education and cultural statement rarely seen in public art here.
If you want a place in Toronto that feels grounded, thoughtful, and genuinely different from the usual city sightseeing loop, go see Resurge: First Timeline — Pan Am Path Mural by the Humber. It stretches along the Pan Am Path near Old Mill and turns an ordinary riverside walk into something much deeper. This isn’t just public art you glance at for 30 seconds and move on from. It’s a sweeping visual timeline of more than 13,500 years of Indigenous history and cosmology on Turtle Island, and the setting matters as much as the painting itself. The mural sits beside the Humber River, which isn’t just scenic background. This corridor was one of the most important ancient portage routes in Eastern Canada, long before Toronto was Toronto. The work traces pre-contact trade routes, celestial navigation, and the enduring relationship between Anishinaabe peoples and this river system. So when you’re standing there looking at the imagery, you’re also standing in a place that was used for movement, exchange, teaching, and orientation over countless generations. That context gives the whole thing weight. Visually, it’s striking without feeling flashy. The colours pull a lot from earth, water, sky, and fire, and they tend to read best later in the day when the sun softens and the river side catches that golden light. Dusk is especially good. The mural feels calmer then, and the details come forward in a way that’s easy to miss at noon. If you like photography, bring your camera, but don’t just shoot the wall straight on. Step back and frame it with the path, trees, and river edge so you get the sense of place too. One of the best reasons to come here is that it rewards time. You can absolutely stop by for 20 minutes, but if you’re interested in Indigenous culture or local history, this is one of those sites where reading, walking, and lingering actually changes the experience. First Story Toronto has led guided night walks anchored by the mural, connecting it to Indigenous star mapping, plant knowledge, and ancestral pathways along the Humber. If you ever get a chance to join one, do it. It turns the area from “nice riverside trail” into something legible and alive. Getting there is easy. Take Line 2 to Old Mill station, then walk north along the riverbank toward the north end of Old Mill Trail. It’s free, open all the time, and very straightforward if you’re already exploring the west end. I’d pair it with a slow walk rather than trying to squeeze it between bigger attractions. The whole Pan Am Path project gives the mural even more meaning, since this section of the Humber was Toronto’s main pre-contact travel route. What I like most is that it doesn’t flatten the past into something decorative. It asks you to pay attention — to land, to story, to the sky above the river. That’s rare in this city, and worth returning for.
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