Architect Jemma Chapman didn’t expect to start a new career as an illustrator when she landed in Toronto from the U.K. in January 2025. Arriving on a specialized visa for youth, she had high hopes for starting her career in architecture but “that didn’t happen,” she says.  

“I applied for over 500 jobs, and I heard back from 39 people. Most people ignored me. That was the hardest part. It really did take a toll on my mental well-being.” 

While her job search was discouraging, she was immediately struck by the warmth of the city and the welcome she received. “I’ve found the people in Toronto very kind, and I’ve found my community very easily,” she says. “There’s lots of community things to do, lots of volunteering opportunities. The ability to meet people and the openness of people is truly special.” 

Jemma took great delight in exploring Toronto’s art and architecture, neighbourhoods, and food scene, and these outings turned into a way to preserve her well-being during a trying time. “The way I kept myself sane was I decided to start an illustration project.”  

Jemma explains that the idea began as a way to document her time in Toronto. “All the lovely things I'd found, all the wonderful places I'd been. I thought, when I go home eventually, I'll do a nice poster, it'll go on my wall, and it'll be a nice memento of my travels and a talking point. I never intended to share it with the world.” 

But the idea took on a life of its own. Jemma showed some of her friends her illustrations and they urged her to share them publicly. 

She was initially hesitant and concerned about the scrutiny she’d be subjected to, at a time when she was already facing more than her share of rejection. But, by October 2025, “I was so done,” Jemma says. She decided to redirect the energy she was putting into job applications towards promoting her illustration project on social media for a month.  

“I did one video, and 100 people turned up. Then I did another, and 100 more turned up. Very quickly, starting with TikTok, I gained around 1,000 followers in about three months.” 

Jemma was sharing not only her art, but also her impressions of Toronto as a newcomer and the unique places she thought other visitors — and residents — might be interested in.  

“People were like, ‘oh, I'd love to buy these, are you going to do prints?’ And I said, ‘You want to buy these? Sorry, what?’” she jokes.

Toonie Stamps was born. 

Jemma created a series of 9x11 cm prints and sold them for $2 online and, later, through repurposed vending machines in various locations around Toronto.  

The illustrations include “unusual buildings, because those are the buildings I love,” food, and a number of subjects that, as a newcomer, she felt were iconically Canadian or Torontonian. 

There are now about 50 designs available on Jemma's Toonie Stamps website and through the vending machines.  

Jemma says the illustrations are her “love letter to the city.”  

They also serve as a way for her to share what it’s like to be a newcomer to Toronto. A series of Instagram reels called Stamp Stories tell the story behind the design of one of the stamps. Some are well-known places or landmarks in the city, but others are more personal: “an obscure café that I love, that I have a really nice memory of,” she shares, as an example. 

The project is rooted in Jemma’s deeply held values. Each vending machine includes a map of restaurants, galleries, cafés, and community gathering places in the surrounding neighbourhood. Jemma chooses these locations based on criteria that are important to her. “It's all local, independent, community-based, sustainable,” she explains. 

The vending machines got noticed. Jemma did a video of one of the installations, and she was soon featured in local media. “It snowballed, and suddenly I now have close to 8,000 followers on the two platforms, TikTok and Instagram.” She sold nearly 3,000 prints in three months and, even more importantly, “I've built this really wonderful community of people who are interested in what I'm doing, they're interested in what I have to say, and for the first time in a year, I'm not being ignored.”   

That’s how she came to the attention of CMHA Toronto’s communications team. As they planned for Mental Health Week 2026, they reached out to Jemma to see if she would be interested in collaborating.  

The 2026 theme — Come Together, Toronto — focused on connection: the relationships, conversations, and shared spaces that help people feel less alone. It seemed tailor-made for a fruitful collaboration with an artist whose purpose is to illustrate the places where people connect. 

The result was a city-wide postcard campaign featuring six illustrated Toronto scenes, linked to places in the city where CMHA Toronto operates. Distributed during Mental Health Week events and gatherings across the city, the postcards were designed to be shared — mailed to a friend, passed to a neighbour, tucked into a note, or kept as a reminder to reach out. 

For Jemma, the partnership with CMHA Toronto aligned perfectly with the goals she had imagined for her practice. 

“When I decided to start sharing this project, I wrote a manifesto of what I wanted it to achieve,” she says. “It was to work with other organizations within Toronto that did amazing things and were important to society beyond a capitalist agenda. This project is not about making money, it’s about providing accessibility.” 

CMHA Toronto gave Jemma broad creative freedom for the campaign. The agency asked her to interpret the Come Together, Toronto theme visually while highlighting six neighbourhoods connected to CMHA Toronto programs and services.  

The final illustrations feature recognizable local landmarks alongside scenes of diverse groups of people gathering in parks, streets, and public spaces.  

What began as a design collaboration evolved into a tactile expression of the campaign’s core message: community connection. 

When the finished prints arrived, Jemma said she felt something she rarely allows herself to feel about her own work: satisfaction.  

For Jemma, who arrived in Toronto searching for opportunity and belonging, the project also became something personal and far-reaching: “To have the privilege to travel is a very fortunate thing, and perspective that comes with living somewhere else is inherently helpful as a designer and also as a human.” 

And for CMHA Toronto, the campaign is more than a promotional or public education piece. It is a tangible reflection of what Come Together, Toronto was intended to mean: connection built through care, creativity, and community.  

Jemma’s love letters to the city have become CMHA Toronto’s postcards: small invitations to reach out, reconnect, and remind people they are not alone.