Chicago Train Cover by Nitya Mehrotra
Public Art - includes work by Brandon Breaux, Noel Mercado, Carlos Rolón, nonprofit Territory, and Bob Faust
Starting Aug. 12, 2024, Chicago’s trains were covered in artwork by emerging artists and designers including Nitya's work. This project was curated by designer Bob Faust, 58. Many young artists were chosen to show off the city’s wide range of creative talent including Brandon Breaux, Noel Mercado, Carlos Rolón, and groups of teenagers from the youth development nonprofits Territory. The project focuses on diversity, equity, inclusion, and choice, and the art-covered trains will run for up to a year. Nitya was associated with this project while working with the nonprofit Urban Gateways. She led, created, and executed the entire design and culminated the ideas from the youth at UG to ensure that the people of Chicago could see themselves reflected when they boarded this train. She also paid homage to her mother by including her in the illustration, drawing attention to the culture that binds the city of Chicago.
The project has been covered by the New York Times, CBS, Sun-times, Timeout, and many other news outlets!
Dimensions: 101.5” tall x 560” wide
Medium: Adobe Illustrator
Process Documentation
Nitya encouraged all the students at Urban Gateways to share ideas for a character they wanted to see on the train, and they were also welcome to pitch themselves as a character. Many of them were very enthusiastic about the possibility of seeing themselves represented, which captured the essence of what it means to be recognized. Nitya combined these references into a flourishing and engaging scene of at the Park!
