Project Description

Eileen Cowin aims to spark the imaginations of transit riders at MLK Jr. Station through a poetic juxtaposition of photographic vignettes inspired by the potential stories of passersby in You are heading in the right direction. The fourteen filmstrip-like art panels invite viewers to create narratives from a collection of nonlinear scenes that feature local community members at businesses and locations surrounding the station. The multilayered imagery allows riders to imagine and reimagine different stories about the people and places in the artworks.

In conjunction with the project, Cowin introduced local students to her station artwork and discussed an artist’s role in public art, from conception to execution.

 

Artist Statement

“Ideally, passengers will pick up where my work left off as they travel on the train . . . and see the surrounding life, the individual characters and the recognizable vistas that make up the backdrop of their own stories.”

 

About the Artist

EILEEN COWIN (b. 1947) is a photographer, video and mixed-media installation artist best known for her intimate mise-en-scenes that conjure provocative, ambiguous narratives. She earned a Bachelor of Science from the State University of New York at New Paltz and Master of Science from the Illinois Institute of Technology. She is a professor emeritus of fine art at California State University, Fullerton. Her work has been presented in more than 30 solo exhibitions and is included in numerous US and international museum collections. She is the recipient of grants from the California Arts Council, the California Community Foundation, the Center for Cultural Innovation, the City of Santa Monica Artist Fellowship, the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs and the National Endowment for the Arts, among others. Cowin’s other public art projects include billboards commissioned by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the MAK Center for Art and Architecture, and installations for the Los Angeles World Airport.