Uptown Sunflowers Poster at The MTA Subway Station

I am humbled and honored to see my poster up in the elevators at the historic 190th Street A Train Station. The station is steps from NYC cultural attractions like Fort Tryon Park, the Cloisters medieval art museum, and the Mother Cabrini Shrine.  The Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance partnered with community-led project known as the MTA-AU Subway Elevator Poster Project.

installing posters in the newly renovated 181/184 Street and 190 Street elevators. The MTA-AU Subway Elevator Poster Project, is fully rooted in the community — the result of efforts begun by the Washington Heights Quality of Life Committee, (chaired by Rosa Naparstek, Director of Artists Unite), and carried on by Artists Unite with the full support of Community Board 12 and all local elected officials. Participating artists from the community submitted original artwork reflective of the community and the surrounding neighborhood.

Uptown Sunflowers Prints

Through the metaphor of sunflowers growing across Uptown’s streets, fences, gardens, and even empty lots, my "Uptown Sunflowers" poster honors the resilience and beauty of the people who shape our neighborhood. The original painting draws on the sunflower’s ability to grow and thrive in unexpected corners of the neighborhood.  As the sunflowers' persistence,  and instinctual nature to turn toward light, so do the people, who live in the neighborhood. Uptown is where sunflowers rise and grow through concrete, fences, and forgotten lots, beautifying with color and determination.   The winds may turn cold, still the sunflowers turn to the sunlight. -FdlM