On the 50th Street subway station in New York, “Alice: The Way Out” by Liliana Porter, a collection of public art, incorporates various fundamental, nonsense characters of 1865’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll. While visiting this site along with my best friend Eva Miles on our day off, we examined each wall on both the uptown and downtown subway tracks. On the left-hand side of the downtown tracks there are four silhouetted figures inferred to be Alice, Alice’s sister, the White Rabbit, and the Queen of Hearts, all in different positions. Alice seems to be running towards the wonderland character away from her sister peeking out of the right bottom corner, possibly symbolizing the switch between reality and imagination. Together with, the frantic White Rabbit, facing left, is holding up his pocket watch near the center of the panel and clutching an umbrella in the opposite hand. Slightly above the White Rabbit is a black top hat, concluded to belong to that of the Mad Hatter. Additionally, the imperious Queen of Hearts is facing right in the direction of the fellow characters while strictly pointing in the same direction. Also, she holds a heart in her other hand, which is accentuated by its red color, contrasting from the rest of the work being done in simply navy blue.
Coupled with this work of art on the right-hand side of the Downtown track, there are only two wonderland figures in view, assumed to be the White Rabbit and Alice. The timid White Rabbit is standing upright on the left side of the panel looking right, in the Direction of Alice. Alice, on the other hand, looks to be slightly crouched and snooping through what occurs to be a curtain. Unlike the other glass mosaic panels, particularly, there is no use of any other color than navy blue in order to draw attention to certain elements. Moreover, on the left-hand side of the Uptown track there are three essential characters which come to be the Mad Hatter, the White Rabbit, and Humpty Dumpty. The Mad Hatter suggests being walking left, grasping a cane, in the direction of the two accompanying characters. Near the center, again, one sees the White Rabbit dressed in a different attire blowing a trumpet with one hand while holding a scroll in the other. With this, the heart on his chest is highlighted by its red color. Meanwhile in the far left, Humpty Dumpty is running right with both of his arms sticking out to either side. Lastly, above the characters, there is both a small crescent moon and a star.
The final panel located on the right-hand side of the Uptown tracks four evident characters can be recognized, implied to be Alice, the Mad Hatter, one of the playing cards, and another female, perhaps Alice again. Young Alice, on the far left of the panel, is cautiously and curiously eyeing something or someone towards the right. At the same time, the bizarre, small Mad hatter is operating in the same direction as Alice is looking whilst clenching what resembles a teacup, that is featured due to its red color. Equally important, a spade playing card is scanning left while clinching what gives the impression of a paint bucket. Concurrently, the spade symbols on the body of the card are red, which make their presence a focal point when analyzing the overall work. On the far right, there is a young woman walking left with her arms seemingly positioned behind her back, and her similar clothing style and naked feet may suggest that she is also in fact Alice. Lastly, above this figure, a bit to the left is a crescent moon.
Generally, the sound of the uptown and downtown trains hurrying by, stopping to let on a few passengers every few minutes, dominated the experience. Along with, the intensely cold weather and the smell of the typical underground metro system made it difficult to suitably and comfortably enjoy the subway art. Even so, despite the people bundled up patiently waiting for their ride, there was no sight of any New Yorkers or tourists pausing to take photographs or simply admire the walls. Instead, each person was either hustling to catch the train cart or walking up the stairs to their next destination. Altogether, though it was unfortunate to not notice pedestrians taking a glance up from their mobile phones to appreciate the artwork, the overall encounter was fascinating and an entertaining way to spend the Monday afternoon.
