TOMIE ARAI
Back to the Garden, 2007
Faceted glass in Platform windscreen

24 faceted glass windows at the Pelham Parkway elevated station. The work contains seasonal floral imagery-spring blossoms, summertime wallflowers, and autumn foliage. The species shown are common to the area of Pelham Parkway, which links Pelham Bay Park with Bronx Park.

Arai inset historic black and white photographs into her colorful images. The photos were screened and fired onto the glass surface. They capture historical views of the streets and buildings from the first half of the Twentieth Century. The title refers to Joni Mitchell’s song about returning to the simple life, “back in the garden.”

• art,
• Bronx,
• subways