Sarah Lazarovic at Gallery 1065 in Toronto ahead of the upcoming National Portrait Gallery of Canada of Bloorcourt show.Jon Laytner/The Globe and Mail

Sarah Lazarovic is a communications strategist based in Toronto. She writes the newsletter More Vibrant Planet. The National Portrait Gallery of Canada of Bloorcourt show runs until Jan. 18 at Gallery 1065 in Toronto.

Almost 20 years ago I built the Montrose Portrait Gallery of Canada in my ramshackle Toronto garage. It was 2006, and I was annoyed that the Harper government had stalled plans to build Canada’s National Portrait Gallery after learning its now modest-seeming cost would total $45-million. Though they wouldn’t fully kill the gallery until 2008, the implication was that they were trying their darndest to do so. So my “gallerage” (gallery garage) was born. We collected pieces from anyone who wanted to submit (the artist Mendelson Joe even mailed me some of his work), and I opened for leisurely visits on summer weekends. Portrait lovers would come by for lemonade, and to admire gems like my friend’s photograph of CBC commentator Rex Murphy’s shoes. Which were sturdy brogues, of course.

I was a punchy portrait provocateur trying to goad the government into reconsidering their spineless (faceless?) decision. And I guess I still am that person, as this week, in partnership with curator Jode Roberts and Gallery 1065, we opened the National Portrait Gallery of Canada of Bloorcourt in a storefront space on Toronto’s Bloor Street.

Artist Franco DeLeo, centre, discusses hanging options for his work with Ms. Lazarovic and curator Jode Roberts, on Jan. 6th, 2026.Jon Laytner/The Globe and Mail

How did I get so obsessed with portraits? Well, I’d lived in London for just........

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