A Massive Art Installation by the ‘Humans of New York’ Creator Has Taken Over Grand Central Terminal

For two weeks, “Dear New York” will grace the train station’s walls, screens and ad space

Sonja Anderson | Daily Correspondent

October 7, 2025

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For the first time in decades, New York City’s Grand Central Terminal has been cleared of advertisements. In their place is Dear New York, a massive photographic art installation created by Brandon Stanton, the artist behind Humans of New York.

Stanton started Humans of New York, a portrait photography project, in 2010. He posted portraits of New Yorkers on a blog, then included quotes from his conversations with the subjects. Stanton’s work took off, reaching new heights of popularity when he found an audience on Instagram. (His account now has 12.8 million followers.) Stanton expanded his project internationally, and he’s published four related books. He has photographed some 10,000 New Yorkers.

“I had 15 years of photos and stories of people from all over New York City,” Stanton tells ABC News’ Joelle Garguilo. “And I thought to myself, ‘You know, I could just about recreate the humanity of New York City in a single building.’”

In a statement, Stanton calls Dear New York “a love letter to the people of this city,” staged in the iconic Midtown train station “where the entire city comes together.” Projected onto the walls of the terminal’s main concourse are 50-foot-tall photographs and interview quotes. More portraits are displayed on the terminal’s 150 digital screens, which normally display ads and transit announcements. And still more portraits have been pasted all over the walls of the terminal’s subway station.

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Designer David Korins, who worked on Hamilton and Dear Evan Hansen, served as the installation’s creative director of experience. He says in the statement that Dear New York is the city’s largest public artwork since Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s The Gates, which filled Central Park with orange arches in 2005.

“We’ve intentionally captured every single square inch of advertisement—plus much, much more surface area—not to bombard people, but to engulf them,” Korins tells ARTnews’ Daniel Cassady. “We want this to wash over you like a meditation. For some, it’ll be a mirror; for others, a portal into deep empathy.”

During the installation’s two-week takeover of Grand Central, a lineup of students, faculty and alumni from the Juilliard School will play a grand piano in the main concourse. Also, a companion community art showcase is on display in the station’s Vanderbilt Hall: It features works from local artists and more than 600 New York City Public School students.

The Dear New York installation actually emerged from Stanton’s new book of the same name. Dear New York, the book, is a forthcoming nearly 500-page volume of New Yorkers’ portraits and stories—in the style of the primary Humans of New York.

“I took two years, and I covered every inch of this city, photographing and interviewing every type of person,” Stanton tells Spectrum News NY1’s Annika Pergament. “In the course of that, I created what I thought was the definitive portrait of this city that I was able to create with all my talents and all my skills. And that book was really the inspiration for what’s going on in Grand Central right now.”

In fact, the money Stanton made from the Dear New York book funded the Dear New York installation. Any additional proceeds from the book will be donated to local charities, Stanton tells NY1. “So it’s designed to be an artistic and financial gift to the city.”

Grand Central Terminal connects New York’s subway and bus system, the Long Island Rail Road, and the Metro-North Railroad. Some 750,000 people pass through it every day. Stanton tells ARTnews that he hopes the Dear New York installation encourages commuters and tourists to stop and consider.

“I just want to create as many of these little intersections and interventions in the lives of the people streaming through here,” he says. “I can’t change anyone’s life, but if even one person pauses and feels something—connection, solitude, a thought they’ve never had before—that’s my artistic goal.”

“Dear New York” is on display in Grand Central Terminal through October 19, 2025.

Editors’ note, October 8, 2025: This article has been updated to correct an error in the dates that Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s The Gates was on display.

Sonja Anderson | Read More

Sonja Anderson is a writer and reporter based in Chicago.