ABOVE AND BELOW

ABOVE AND BELOW: A DIGITAL CONVERSATION WITH HEYDI DE LOS SANTOS AND THE NEW YORK TRANSIT MUSEUM

October 7, 2020
4:00 - 5:00 p EST

Summertime is thrilled to share with you a digital discussion recording on October 7, 2020 with Heydi De Los Santos and hosted by The New York Transit Museum. While most New Yorkers love to complain about the subway, Brooklyn based artist Heydi De Los Santos can’t get enough. De Los Santos has a deep and far reaching love for New York City’s public transportation system and for the freedom it allows her. Over the course of a month-long residency at Summertime, De Los Santos, who works out of YAI Arts, took nearly one thousand photographs in her travels to 40 train stations, bus depots and train yards across the city. From East Harlem to Coney Island, she documented subways entering and leaving, a changing city through train windows, transit workers and everything in between. 

Tell me more!

In July, De Los Santos spent ample time below ground: lingering on platforms, standing clear of the closing doors, and getting willfully, wonderfully lost in the belly of the New York subway system. Months ago, these activities were commonplace for begrudging commuters; but since Covid stopped the city in its tracks, the subway has — for many residents — gone from daily ritual to memory growing increasingly distant, a train receding to a point. 

As the artist in residence at Summertime, Dominican Republic-born, Brooklyn-based artist De Los Santos braved the subways to capture a dreamlike side effect of our current nightmarish moment — a train system that’s nearly empty, and squeaky clean too! 

For many New Yorkers, trash talking the MTA is a beloved pastime. De Los Santos, however, relishes the freedom and independence trains and buses allow New Yorkers, especially those with disabilities. During a pandemic, subway rides feel laced with unprecedented risk. Yet for some people with disabilities, traveling independently always coexists with a heightened awareness of the uncertainty each journey invites. Donning personal protective equipment and practicing social distancing, De Los Santos did as she always had: accepting the risk the subway occasions — a risk that has always been present for all New Yorkers, though often hidden behind perspiring crowds and subway performers. 

A fierce advocate for transportation that’s accessible to all, De Los Santos expresses enthusiasm for her subject matter through the sheer volume of her output: shooting nearly 1,000 photographs in four weeks, using five disposable cameras, four rolls of 35 millimeter film, and her cell phone camera. De Los Santos’ enchantment emanates from the meditative, nearly mystical gaze through which she captures winding tracks and street signs whizzing by in a blur. 

With many would-be subway riders sheltering in place, De Los Santos is free to focus on the visual details often clouded by the commuting mobs: stained glass windows depicting elephants and irises, a mosaic of a shining sun encircling a stairway that swallows riders whole and spits others out, the reflection of fluorescent lights on a deserted tile floor. 

One of her photos depict the sterling, sterile interior of a subway car, occupied by a lone rider in a mask, his face obscured by a foreshortened pole. The image captures how quickly familiar sights became alien, and unthinkable visions commonplace. Many New Yorkers could envision a global pandemic before a spotless, vacant Q train at rush hour, yet here we are. The subway’s screen is frozen flashing a familiar refrain: “The Next Stop Is.” The ominous declaration mirrors our collective uncertainty. Where are we headed anyway? 

De Los Santos’ bold photographic endeavor is a love letter to the subway system and dignified risk it enables. Her photos depict a singular moment in transit history, while her physical presence provides comfort to vehicles that, like so many of us, must be getting a little lonely. 

Portrait of Heydi De Los Santos by Austin Sandhaus
A special thanks to Priscilla Frank for documenting De Los Santo’s residency in such beautiful detail.