Portal
Building Details
Mirrors
Tiles
Train Mechanisms
In June 2024 I started researching a location representative of urban life and storytelling about the city. I chose the subway, specifically the station on 190th street, serviced by the A line.
This station opened in 1932, and is notable as one of the deepest subway stations in the city. The platform is 140ft deep (43 mts), and is accessible by elevator (operated by an attendant) or a tunnel that leads to Bennet Avenue.
Here are some things I found in the station.
Portal
Building Details
Mirrors
Tiles
Train Mechanisms
On my second visit to the subway, I paid special attention to my sensorial experience of this busy and overlooked place. I was drawn to the textures, sounds, my own mental associations, and the hints of life in a transitory space. Then, I created a couple of charts in a vague attempt to extract objective truth from my own perception.
Approach the rust creature?
Rust creatures and stains: they are overlooked, unwanted and spontaneously born in the depths of the subway. Stains are curious beings: no one intends for them to happen, and they are nothing by themselves. They’re simply shadows, projections of something else. I took pictures, took notes of the position, color, shape and textures of stains on the platform. There are grimy stains, and yellowy, unpleasant textures. But beyond that, we might try to guess their origin: there are hints of life everywhere. Maintenance and repairs, playful vandalism, and mistakes. Even the oozing, slimy, drippy stains of the subway contain human stories.
