{"id":5149,"date":"2020-02-24T08:52:18","date_gmt":"2020-02-24T04:52:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mbrsc.aud.edu\/MBRSCPost\/?p=5149"},"modified":"2020-02-24T08:53:27","modified_gmt":"2020-02-24T04:53:27","slug":"commuting-to-work-a-time-to-create-art","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mbrsc.aud.edu\/MBRSCPost\/commuting-to-work-a-time-to-create-art\/","title":{"rendered":"Commuting to Work, a Time to Create Art"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On her daily commute in the Dubai metro, Nora Zeid, 22, draws on an empty white page in a thick sketchbook. An elderly woman, seemingly sleeping on the seat across from her has caught her attention. Nora is now fully concentrated on drawing the portrait of the woman, with fast strokes on the paper.  She has learned to sketch people quickly, as she never knows at what station they will get off. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, the Egyptian graphic designer has a collection of some 60 drawings of random passengers from the metro. \u201cI like hard features — people with angular noses, high cheekbones, or strong jawlines … people with round features, round noses or big brown eyes,\u201d Zeid said in an interview.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Illustration of a man on the metro courtesy of Nora Zeid. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Dubai metro provides a public space that inspires \u201ccommuter artists,\u201d like many trains and subways around the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A commuter in both Barcelona and Paris, a 38-year-old French artist known as Lapin published 30 books with his illustrations, including collections of works about metro commuters from different countries.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI started sketching the commuters in the subway in Paris 18 years ago, on my way to work every day. I might have filled about 70 sketchbooks in the subway over the years,\u201d Lapin, who’s artist name means rabbit in French, said by email. \u201cIt takes me one or two metro stops to capture someone in my sketchbook. I can focus on faces, hands, clothes — a never-ending inspiration.\u201d  
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Image of metro sketch courtesy of Lapin<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Based in Cologne, Germany, Tim Piotrowski, 33, published a book about his \u201cunderground\u201d art. \u201cThe idea of the book came from a friend because with time, many pictures were created. I wanted to show a little bit of the process of drawing,\u201d Piotrowski said in text messages. 
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Picture from Project Subway Studies, an exhibition initiated by Tim Piotrowski in Cologne, Germany in October of 2017. The exhibition featured his digital drawings as well as his self-published book Subway Studies. Image courtesy of Herz Herz Hurra website. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In the United States, artist Sarah Kahle has been drawing during her daily commute since 2016. \u201cI was frustrated with not having enough time to dedicate to my art practice, and decided to use the time to draw during my commute to work,\u201d Kahle said in a text message.  
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Picture from the EF Language Center in Washington, DC that featured Sarah Kahle’s metro sketches in 2018. Image courtesy of Sarah Kahle. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Also in the States in New York, Jasmine McAllister, 26, has also been doodling in the subway since she moved to the city three months ago. \u201cI was in the subway drawing someone, and someone else was drawing me,\u201d she recalled over a Skype interview, laughing at the comical incident. McAllister worked on a special piece dedicated to love. \u201cI took a lot of the places I drew from the metro, and I made them in the shape of a heart. Now, I have prints of them and it\u2019s the favorite thing I made.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because metro artists often observe closely other commuters as they sketch them, the response isn\u2019t always positive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bharvi Dasson, 24, recalls an incident in the New Delhi metro. \u201cOnce an aunty thought I was a police officer trying to spy on a couple in the metro,\u201d Dasson said over text messages. \u201cI just laughed it off, and said that I\u2019m just an artist and a working professional.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Metro art is not limited to sketches and can involve photography like the ones taken by Samar Khan, 26, a commuter in the New Delhi metro. \u201cI became an artist when people on Instagram started calling me that,\u201d Khan, an engineer, said during a Skype interview. More than the people, it is the scene that\u2019s interesting for the photographer who is \u201ctaking hundreds of pictures every day.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
After taking hundreds of pictures every day through his commute in the Delhi Metro, Samar Khan picks a few to illustrate on. His pieces take three to four metro rides to render completely. Image courtesy of Samar Khan’s Instagram profile (@metrodoodle). <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n


In Dubai like elsewhere, Zeid has found more than inspiration in the metro. It has become a way of life that brought her some unexpected recognition. \u201cSomeone saw my metro doodles and asked me why don\u2019t I do live drawings at an event (\u2026) at DIFC Art Night, and this led to another live drawing event with Chalk at AlSerkal,\u201d the art district of Dubai, she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Edited by: Mais Othman <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On her daily commute in the Dubai metro, Nora Zeid, 22, draws on an empty…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":5150,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[48],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mbrsc.aud.edu\/MBRSCPost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5149"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mbrsc.aud.edu\/MBRSCPost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mbrsc.aud.edu\/MBRSCPost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mbrsc.aud.edu\/MBRSCPost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mbrsc.aud.edu\/MBRSCPost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5149"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/mbrsc.aud.edu\/MBRSCPost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5149\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5219,"href":"https:\/\/mbrsc.aud.edu\/MBRSCPost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5149\/revisions\/5219"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mbrsc.aud.edu\/MBRSCPost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mbrsc.aud.edu\/MBRSCPost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mbrsc.aud.edu\/MBRSCPost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mbrsc.aud.edu\/MBRSCPost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}