“New York is humanity itself. Every type of person is here—every ethnicity, every culture, every religion, every viewpoint. And somehow, despite the honking, the yelling, the shoving, we find a way to make it work,” says Brandon Stanton.
Creating one of the most well-known archives of city life, Stanton is the photographer behind Humans of New York, the ongoing portrait project that shares the stories of everyday people. Since launching the series in 2010, Stanton has amassed 10,000 images that offer a wide-reaching narrative that spans all five boroughs. Humans of New York has long been accessible via wildly popular social media accounts and published in a few books, but now, it’s also sprawled across Grand Central Terminal.
Dear New York debuted earlier this month at the iconic station. Fifty-foot portraits projected in the Main Concourse, along with smaller photographs and quotes lining the underground passageway fill every spot typically reserved for advertising and transit information. This marks the first time Grand Central is completely without ads (at least in recent memory), and Stanton funded the takeover entirely on his own—a decision that cost all the money he earned from the project during the last 15 years, he said in an interview.
“Dear New York is a living, breathing immersive art installation staged in the one place where the entire city comes together—Grand Central. It is a love letter to the people of this city, and about the people of this city,” Stanton added.
Like Humans of New York, this installation intends to transform public space into a site for finding commonalities and recognizing our shared humanity. To emphasize its focus on community, the project also includes a display of works by 600 New York City Public School students in Vanderbilt Hall.
Dear New York is also the title of Stanton’s newest book, available from Bookshop. And if you’re in the city, stop by Grand Central to see the installation through October 19.
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