Public Display: Rocky Dobey
This short documentary explores Rocky Dobey’s near half-century of work creating the memorials for those Toronto tends to forget.
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Public Display: Rocky Dobey Thumbnail, July 26, 2023. Nominee for the 2024 Heritage Toronto Public History Award. Image by and courtesy of Kate Colenbrander.
Public Display: Rocky Dobey, July 26, 2023. Nominee for the 2024 Heritage Toronto Public History Award. Image by and courtesy of Kate Colenbrander.
Ronnie Memorial by Rocky Dobey, July 26, 2023. Nominee for the 2024 Heritage Toronto Public History Award. Image by Rocky Dobey. Courtesy of Kate Colenbrander.
Director: Kate Colenbrander
Date of Release: July 26, 2023
Who does a city choose to memorialize? In the erected bronze sculptures and engraved plaques lies a legacy and story we are choosing to enshrine for the collective memory of this city. To Rocky Dobey, these monuments are advertisements, not memorials. Rocky, some could argue, is Toronto’s first street artist. Since moving to Toronto in his early childhood he began postering the city, although you may not be aware of his intricate and prolific metal work of sculpted memorials that punctuate the city.
Public Display is a short documentary that explores Rocky Dobey’s near half century of work creating the memorials for those the city of Toronto tends to forget. From homeless people who have frozen to death, to local political activists, to cultures, to businesses, to community centers and even most prolifically to his childhood best friend Ronnie who introduced Rocky to Toronto street art. This short-doc weaves through this past, present, and future of Rocky’s work.
Rocky is a metalworker by trade and artist by circumstance. He has helped to build Toronto in big and small ways, literally working on many of the still-standing Bay Street skyscrapers where he would collect scrap metal for his sculptures. He is both tangentially documenting Toronto’s history while simultaneously becoming a part of it. He records each piece (past and present) on his Instagram–– showing the street and its surroundings, reading almost as an invitation for a scavenger hunt. At first, the works are easy to miss but if you choose to take on this challenge they are almost impossible to ignore. His motivation has nothing to do with recognition of himself, however, but rather in those he chooses to memorialize. This film works to translate Rocky’s medium and style into video and to cement him alongside his countless sculptures in Toronto’s complicated history and ever changing present.
Additional Project Members:
Rocky Dobey – Main Contributor
Tiffany Wice – Producer, CBC Arts