The ruins of a historic Toronto church destroyed by fire two years ago became both the site of an art exhibition and multiple concerts this summer and a symbol of the parish’s determination to rebuild.
St. Anne’s Anglican Church is hosting the exhibition “Where Walls Meet Sky” from Aug. 22-Sept. 13 in the shell of its former building. The church was a unique piece of Byzantine Revival architecture that burned to the ground in June 2024 along with irreplaceable artwork including pieces by members of the Group of Seven. The congregation has since continued to worship in its parish hall, with plans to rebuild a smaller structure inside the remains of the old church.
Supported by funds from the Ontario Arts Council, “Where Walls Meet Sky” features several pre-existing artworks focusing on rebirth or sacred space. Curator Rui Pimenta says the current state of the church inspired the theme for the exhibition.
“Although the space is in this state of ruins, it remains a sacred space,” Pimenta says. “The concept of sacredness is not something that you can reduce to the physical attributes. It’s something that … is in more important ways alive in the people that occupy a space.”
In reflecting on the theme of sacredness, Pimenta says, “I was immediately struck by the fact that it’s a space without a roof,” which he saw as an interesting metaphor for the idea of the divine that cannot be contained. “Being open to the sky, open to the heavens, I think has a lot of significance and poetry to it.”
The Rev. Hannah Johnston, priest in charge at St. Anne’s, describes an “overwhelming” response to the exhibition, which has also included concerts within the ruins presented by local non-profit arts organization Wavelength Music. Nearly 700 people attended the Aug. 22 opening reception, she says.
More than 300 people then attended an Aug. 27 concert featuring Charles Spearin and the Local Singers with Fleshtone Aura; doom metal band Völur and chamber folk group A Horse Named Friday, Johnston says. A further 230, she says, attended “Vita Contemplativa” on Sept. 1, a concert of experimental music.
“For me, it’s just been extraordinary to see the space transformed, to see people coming back in again for the first time, being able to open it to the community,” Johnston says.
Johnston credits artist and parishioner Max Streicher for the idea of holding an art exhibition in the ruins of the old building as a means, she says, of “reflecting [on] this space, the church, everything that was lost in the fire and the idea of a resurrection opportunity after the trauma.”
Art on display includes FARSH, a minaret that artist Roda Medhat wrapped in textiles based on historic Kurdish carpet patterns, drawing its colours from the church’s surviving mosaic and the open sky. Johnston describes the minaret as reminiscent of the Hagia Sophia, the mosque and former church in Istanbul that St. Anne’s was modelled on.
Streicher created another piece, Giant Babies, consisting of two large inflatable infants made from nylon spinnaker. Johnston says the latter piece represents “the vulnerability and the playfulness of new life.”
Trinity by John Dickson consists of three black fabric vessels suspended from the church ruins, which were previously exhibited at St. Anne’s just before the fire. Some artwork repurposes materials from the ruins of St. Anne’s itself: Bricks to Bread is a temporary wood-fired oven made from bricks recovered from the fire-damaged church, which artist Sacha Bassil uses to bake flatbread that she gives to the public.
Telephone Booth, a 1950s Northern Electric pay telephone repurposed by artist David Jensenius as a “metaphor for prayer,” Johnston says, offers an interactive element. Visitors who pick up the receiver hear an invitation to reflect on St. Anne’s and can leave a message or listen to one from a stranger.
Volunteers welcome visitors and answer questions. Richard Anderson, who first started attending St. Anne’s in 2007 and rejoined the congregation with his wife shortly before the fire, was covering a shift when the Anglican Journal visited.
“There are some people for whom the experience of having a church burn is too much and can’t cope with it,” Anderson says. “But I think this is what faith is about … We still have a ministry, we still have a congregation, we still have a sense of purpose … I think our denomination has still got something to offer this community.”
Meeting visitors has been “lovely,” he says, while the exhibition has given the parish a shared activity outside Sunday worship.
Lyna Zhang, a recent George Brown College graduate in interactive design, volunteered following a similar experience at the Museum of Contemporary Art. She compares St. Anne’s, which she had no previous relation with, to Buddhist temples she saw growing up in China and says she has learned much about the parish.
Speaking to the Journal on her first day of volunteering, Zhang recalls meeting a visitor who got teary-eyed as she shared childhood memories of St. Anne’s.
“We’re all sharing the same feeling … I feel like it’s not just a church,” Zhang says. “It’s a space for the neighbourhood and for the people who live around here.”
Johnston says St. Anne’s remains in ongoing consultation with the Anglican diocese of Toronto on plans to redevelop the site, including serving needs of the wider community to fund rebuilding efforts.
