Graffiti News

Toronto Union Station mural builds a portrait from remembrance notes

A portrait made from thousands of handwritten sticky notes is on view inside Union Station in Toronto until November 13. According to a Royal Canadian Legion release published by The Manila Times, the 4 by 7 metre mural depicts First World War veteran and professional hockey player Allan McLean “Scotty” Davidson. Its unveiling helped launch the 2026 National Poppy Campaign. The mural brings individual messages into a shared image, giving remembrance both a named subject and a collective material form.

What is the Union Station mural made of?

Handwritten remembrance messages on sticky notes make up the mural. Hundreds of Royal Canadian Legion branches collected the notes from people across Canada, including veterans and family members. Contributors also included Governor General of Canada Louise Arbour and Minister of Veterans Affairs Jill McKnight.

The material matters to how the work can be understood. A sticky note can carry an individual thought; thousands of notes can also become the components of a much larger portrait. The mural therefore offers two related ways to consider remembrance: through the person depicted and through the people contributing words. Participation is present in the substance of the image itself.

Who was Scotty Davidson?

Davidson was a professional hockey player and captain of the former Toronto Blueshirts, who won the Stanley Cup in 1914. He volunteered for military service after the First World War began and was killed in action in 1915, the release says.

Those details give the portrait a life beyond a name associated with wartime loss. Davidson had a sporting career and a role leading a team before his military service. Keeping both parts of that biography in view makes the subject specific without assigning him motives or feelings that the release does not describe.

His story also sits alongside those of other veterans whose images will appear on bus shelters across Canada during the Remembrance period. The Legion connects these individual lives to more than 120,000 veterans who died in service to Canada.

Why does the station setting matter?

Union Station has a connection to military departures through its previous structure. Many soldiers left that earlier station to serve overseas, according to the release. The distinction matters: the historical departures are associated with the previous building, while the mural is inside Union Station today.

That connection gives the location more than a practical role as somewhere to display a large image. A place associated with journeys becomes a setting for considering a life interrupted by war. This is one way to read the relationship between the portrait and its surroundings, without assuming every person passing through the station will stop or respond in the same way.

How do handwritten notes make a participatory mural?

The contributions are part of the finished work’s construction. The subject is one person, but the material comes from many people’s acts of remembrance. That relationship distinguishes the collective process from simply presenting a portrait for an audience to view.

It also offers a useful approach to participatory public murals as a form. Consider both the image and the contributions that make the image possible. In this case, the notes connect personal expression to a shared portrait. Their role can be discussed without inventing the wording of individual messages or treating every contributor as having the same experience of remembrance.

How long will the temporary mural remain?

The Union Station display remains until November 13. Its temporary duration is part of the work’s public context: this is an encounter available within a defined period, rather than an installation visitors should assume will remain indefinitely.

A limited display can still give collective memory a substantial visual presence. Here, small pieces of paper come together at a scale of 4 by 7 metres. The contrast between the individual contribution and the overall image is central to reading the work. The release does not explain what will happen to the mural or its notes after the display ends.

For exploring public art in other places, the Wallscape map offers a related starting point. For this installation, the essential location and timing are Union Station’s interior and the November 13 end date.

How is the mural connected to the Poppy Campaign?

The mural belongs to Don’t Forget to Remember, a special Legion centenary initiative funded by the Government of Canada. Established in 1926, the Royal Canadian Legion is a nonprofit veteran support and community service organisation.

The 2026 National Poppy Campaign supports veterans and their families, with locally donated funds used locally. Its launch also included a new contactless donation method using smartphones. The station display gives that wider campaign a distinct public image: a named veteran assembled from thousands of handwritten contributions. Its significance as a mural lies in the relationship between an individual life, collective remembrance and a temporary presence in a shared place.