Photo Exhibit at Bowling Green Tracks Progress of Second Avenue Subway, East Side Access, 7 Line Extension

It’s not the first time the MTA has installed a great photography exhibit at the Bowling Green subway station, as part of the Lightbox Program. This time, instead of foot-tingling photos looking down from New York City’s rooftops, there are large scale images deep underneath the streets of the MTA’s capital projects, like of the Second Avenue Subway, East Side Access and 7 Line Extension taken by Patrick J. Cashin a former Newsweek lab technician and photographer who has been visually documenting the MTA’s projects for fifteen years.

Photo by MTA Arts & Design/Patrick J. Cashin

At Untapped Cities had the opportunity over the course of several years to witness and photograph the progress of these infrastructure projects, and imagery like Cashin’s convey the scale of work being accomplished–as much as we like to gripe about service cuts and crowding on the active lines. According to Sandra Bloodworth, the Director of Arts & Design at the MTA, “There has been an amazing amount of excavation and construction work going on, out of sight, as MTA builds a 21st-century transit system for New York, and we wanted to share some of Patrick J. Cashin’s photographs with the public. His vivid photos in our Lightbox Program take you directly to the site so you can experience firsthand this remarkable work.”

Photo by MTA Arts & Design/Patrick J. Cashin

Cashin himself says “You can feel history being made when you’re behind the lens deep beneath the street, surrounded by massive equipment and workers. It’s a great subject for a photographer, as I get to create a record of something that will become part of the life of the city for generations to come.”

Photo by MTA Arts & Design/Patrick J. Cashin

Photo by MTA Arts & Design/Patrick J. Cashin

Pictured among the photographs on display at Bowling Green are the tunnel boring machine and photographs taken as late as February 2015, depicting the 96 Street Q station, nearly finished and awaiting finishing touches.

Check out more photographs from deep within the Second Avenue Subway construction. Get in touch with the author @untappedmich.