Petal and Stone is a sprawling, 10,000-square-foot mural that launches the Gardiner Wallworks series. The artwork transforms a massive concrete wall into a vivid landscape of imagined architecture, regional plant life, and intertwined pathways. Inspired by the surrounding structures at Exhibition Place and the evolving natural systems around the Gardiner, the piece encourages visitors to see this stretch of the city in a new way.
Photos by Mila Bright Zlatanovic
Toronto’s relationship with the Gardiner Expressway has shifted over decades — once a symbol of the city’s expansion, it now sits at the centre of conversations about public space and connectivity. At the north edge of Exhibition Place sits a structure locals know as “the Cubicles,” a long, utilitarian building that thousands pass daily without a second glance. Petal and Stone reframes this façade as a monumental visual story, opening up the under-expressway corridor as a place of creativity and discovery.
This mural marks artist Rebecca Munce’s first commission at this scale and the inaugural project in the rotating Wallworks series. Munce draws from her studio practice — where she blends illustration, subtle symbolism, and architectural fragments — to imagine the wall as a portal. Through painted scenes and delicate line work, she suggests an alternate world layered beneath the Gardiner, connecting The Bentway and the historic gateways of Exhibition Place.
Elements from Exhibition Place’s heritage buildings echo throughout the composition: softened outlines of archways, towers, and ornamental details drift through the piece. Native Ontario plants — including Black-eyed Susans, Wild Columbine, Wild Bergamot, and Goldenrod — weave through the imagined structures, creating a sense of movement and growth.
Seen by cyclists, pedestrians, and train riders alike, the mural alters the rhythm of the corridor, turning the concrete span into a site of reflection and curiosity. With each pass-through, the viewer encounters new details and shifting perspectives.
Petal and Stone represents the fourth collaborative public-art initiative between Exhibition Place and The Bentway, furthering an ongoing effort to re-envision the Gardiner corridor as a more welcoming and connected public realm.
Discover the Mural at Exhibition Place
The Cubicles Building at Exhibition Place is closed to public access, but its exterior mural is visible from the surrounding area. We recommend viewing this mural from the Strachan Ave Bridge on the pedestrian walkway, or from GO/Via trains along the Lakeshore West line.
See the mural from October 2025 through to 2027.
The Artist
Rebecca Munce (b. Toronto, 1991) is an artist whose work bridges the spiritual and the everyday psyche, creating intricate narratives between terrestrial and celestial entities. Using a distinctive reductive drawing technique and carefully developed color palettes, she depicts otherworldly spaces where elements of her personal iconography converge. Munce holds a BFA from York University and an MFA from Concordia University. Her work has been exhibited internationally in Canada, the United States, Italy, and Japan, and is included in renowned collections such as the Royal Bank of Canada and Scotiabank and has also been featured in prominent publications.
The Bentway
The Bentway works “to ignite the urban imagination”, using the city as site, subject, and canvas. Anchored under Toronto’s Gardiner Expressway and guiding its complex future, The Bentway is a growing public space, and much more. Phase 1 of The Bentway opened in 2018 and is already a vital public space, backyard park, cultural platform, connector for the western Waterfront corridor and a demonstration of what is possible.
Project Team
Producer: ASHOP Productions
Supporters
City of Toronto, Government of Ontario, Balsam Foundation, Waltons Trust, Manulife, Ontario Arts Council, and The Bentway’s growing family of supporters
Special thanks to
Metrolinx
Connect 6ix
Rhapsody Property Management
Lead Hotel Partner:
Hotel X
