Up here along the Davenport ridge, our topography is unique. We are Toronto’s upstairs. Davenport Road was originally a pathway formed along the shoreline of Lake Iroquois when it began to recede 12,000 years ago. Along this, the oldest pedestrian route in the city, several little-known staircases take us up to the residential neighbourhoods adjacent to St. Clair Ave.

Climb the steps at Glenholme, Via Italia, Hillcrest Park, Earlscourt Park or Spadina. At the top, turn around and you can see across the whole downtown and city skyline, built on the ancient seabed, to Lake Ontario. These public access points along this high escarpment allow all of us to savour our location.

Our stairways link up and down in the city. They afford pedestrians a ceremonial sense of arrival as we surmount the steps, and of immersion as we descend.

In Toronto Upstairs artists explore the staircases leading up from Davenport Road as transitional space, and contemplate and express the upness of here.

The exhibition features the work of Schuster Gindin along with Angela Cinello, Leanne Davies, Nomi Drory, Elizabeth Greisman, Gwyn Jones, Peggy Lampotang, Armondo Lulu, Francine Mornard, Giovanna Peel, Karen Wold, and Luigi Ziani.

In conjunction with the Toronto Upstairs exhibition, an installation was mounted on the Glenholme Steps, and an original performance, Water Walk, took place on Oct. 13.

Art @ Liberty gratefully acknowledges the generous support of the Ontario Arts Council.

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