Toronto Union Station

The first iteration of Union Station was a wooden structure built in 1858 and rebuilt twice before it was destroyed by the Great Fire of Toronto of 1904. The landmark BeauxArts building we know today opened in 1927. Every architectural iteration tells a rich and complex story of how the city and surrounding areas were transformed by the expansion of railway lines that propagated trade as well as commercial, industrial, and financial interests.

From his ongoing research titled Tong Yan Gaai (or Chinatown in Cantonese), Morris Lum presents a lightbox series that explores links between Toronto’s Chinese community and Union Station. Nicholas Galanin displays Threat Return (2023), seven bronze sculptures in the form of traditional busts that evoke Native American and African basketry, as well as portraits of ski-masked robbers.