toronto street art

Someone in Toronto just created an optical illusion out of a traffic signal box

A muralist in Toronto just painted an optical illusion onto a traffic signal box in Weston-Mount Dennis. From certain angles, the box looks transparent, but it isn’t.

Toronto-based artist Pam Lostracco painted a replica of the trees, path and grass behind the box at Eglinton Flats to create the impression that you can walk right through it.

“My passion is to paint what I find in nature,” Lostracco wrote on her portfolio website. That's precisely what she did with this project.

Her mural is part of a larger City of Toronto initiative called StreetART, which launched in 2012 in an effort to manage graffiti vandalism. 

Designers apply to the city program and are granted permission to revive dull laneways and buildings with their colourful illustrations.

Outside the Box is one of their initiatives, which encourages artists to hand-paint traffic signal boxes.

“The box has been getting some fun (and confused!) responses and I’d love to get the word out and see people’s creative selfies with it,” Lostracco said in an email.

People have pretended to walk through the box in photos. Now, the artist wants to see what else Torontonians can come up with.

Lead photo by

Pam Lostracco 


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