Arts for Transit and Urban Design

Fort Hamilton

Portia Munson

Gardens of Fort Hamilton Parkway Station, 2012

Laminated glass in platform windscreens

The Gardens of Fort Hamilton Parkway Station are six sets of flower compositions in laminated glass which bring elements of nature onto the subway platform. Artist Portia Munson created the work from digital scans of actual flowers that are realized as larger than life to create fantastical gardens. Each composition represents a garden at different times in the growing season. The first, Double Happiness, represents early spring. The second grouping, Peony is made up of flowers that bloom from late spring in May. The third, July, depicts mid-summer and the fourth, Hibiscus, shows flowers commonly seen toward the end of August. The last gardens are Morning Glory created in September and October, illustrating a garden in late Fall. These six different gardens are comprised of flowers that can be seen growing in Brooklyn.

Each image appears like an aerial plan of imagined flower gardens. Using arrangements inspired by mandalas, representing the universe, the flowers have been placed into orbiting combinations of color and shape, preserving what was in bloom on the day that the images were created. The large fantastical flower beds are meant to function as meditation garden for subway travelers.