Subwaylines – A portrait of a city, seen from the inside.
On my regular commute on the New York subway, I began to notice the riot of color, style, and individuality packed tightly into the sardine can of a carriage. Each train ride became a moving gallery — a shifting composition of strangers lost in their thoughts, their phones, or just trying to get through the day.
After seeing a New York Magazine cover created with the Brushes Redux app, I felt compelled to try something similar: to document this ever-changing community of commuters using only my iPhone. The challenge was time — I never knew how long a passenger would stay. One stop? Five?Would they look up from their phone just long enough for me to catch a glimpse of their expression?
There was urgency. My drawings became instinctual. I had no time to think — only to respond. A dominant color, the curve of a winter scarf, the tilt of a head — I followed these impressions with my finger, letting each line find its course without hesitation. If someone caught me watching, I’d quickly shift to sketching their shoes.
Each sketch became a fleeting attempt to tell a person’s story in just a few strokes. When COVID hit, I kept drawing. People’s individuality became more subtle, but it was still there — in their eyes, their choice of mask, the patterns and colors they wore. It became a diary. A record. A compulsion.
