Toronto Hates Art is a tote bag commemorating sentiments around the unlivable cities of the 21st century. Once beacons for human connection and activity, cities now serve as investment grounds championed by legislation that cares more about profit for a few than housing for all. Dense and homogeneous, Toronto wants you over-worked and isolated, competing for scarce resources.
The extreme cost-of-living for artists means that many young people are not able to take part in producing culture and living creative lives. It’s literally like those t-shirts that came out a few years ago that unapologetically stated, “Toronto vs. Everybody.” We think Toronto Hates Art. How foolish of it! Beautiful makers, projects, initiatives, and conversations abound in the country’s largest town.
We want this tote to critically ask: What would it look like if our city were to prioritize art?

Laura McCoy (b. 1981 Cambridge, Ontario, Canada) is an artist who has lived and worked in Toronto for the past 20 years. Currently she paints and performs and her work is concerned with reducing control and finding an abject heartbeat in trite gestures. She is queer and disabled and lives with a roommate and her 8 year-old dog.

 Lucas Regazzi (b. 1995 Toronto, Ontario, Canada) is an artist who runs april april with his husband in Brooklyn, NY.