10 Secrets of NYC’s Abandoned North Brother Island
Learn more about North Brother Island, a mysterious, abandoned island in NYC's East River!
Spot the pizza rat, Greek coffee cups, and more elements of the subway at an interactive fiber arts installation!
The hands of artists Karima Sundarji and Sue Hunter have been busy knitting, crocheting, quilting, embroidering, sewing, and cross-stitching to recreate iconic pieces of the New York City subway as fiber art. This week, you can step into their life-sized masterpiece at the New York Marriott Marquis in Times Square.
From January 17th through the 19th, visitors will find Straphanger's Lounge, a replica subway car, platform wall, and signs made of fabrics and thread, on the sixth floor of the hotel. The scene is complete with those beloved but disappearing orange and yellow subway seats, Metro Cards, subway maps, and more.
You can even spot unique touches like a spilt anthora coffee cup, the famous pizza-rat, and a recreation of Dr. Zizmor's colorful advertisements. Sundarji and Hunter also recreated pieces of art from the MTA Arts & Design program such as Sophie Blackall's Missed Connections poster, Xenobia Bailey's Funktional Vibrations mosaic, and Milton Glaser's Astor Place mosaic.
"The project started when we were standing on a subway platform and admiring how there was so much amazing craftsmanship and public art in the subway stations that often goes unnoticed," the artists told Untapped New York, "We realized the mosaics would translate easily to knitting graphs."
After testing out their idea on the mosaics, they set their sights to other parts of the subway system. "Everywhere we looked, we started thinking about how we would recreate it using various fiber art techniques," Sundarji and Hunter said, "We then thought we would do some of the signs on the subway - like the wonderful Poetry in Motion posters and the subway map. It then just grew into an obsession as we thought about whether we could build part of a subway car to a scale and let people sit in it."
So they did! Straphanger's Lounge debuted at the Wool & Folk Festival at Hutton Brickyards in Kingston, New York in October 2022 and has popped up at various New York locations since then.
"The choice of the red/orange/yellow seat car was a no-brainer as we both loved the palette. We have been drawn to many of the nostalgic but beloved pieces such as the old Dr. Zizmor ads or the etiquette signs the MTA did (Stop Manspreading!). The subway is a public art museum that rivals many large institutions with pieces by artists such as Vik Muniz, Xenobia Bailey, Yoko Ono, Willam Wegman and Nancy Blum."
"We have had such an incredible response from visitors," the artists shared, "whether they are native New Yorkers or visitors. We often hear squeals of delight when they see things they recognize. Our Pizza Rat and NYC Anthora blue coffee cup are often used in selfies. Some of our favorite visitors were train conductors who have taken pictures in the train and sent them to their colleagues."
All Photos Photo Courtesy of Karima Sundarji and Sue Hunter
You can visit Straphangers Lounge at the New York Marriott Marquis, 1535 Broadway, 6th floor, Times Square, New York, NY. The exhibit is free and open to the public during the following times:
Ride through the oldest stations, uncover hidden art, and more!
Subscribe to our newsletter