This summer, NYC bus shelters will become mini-museums

Bus shelters are turning into makeshift museums.

The Public Art Fund and advertising firm JCDecaux will transform 100 city bus shelters into mini-art galleries this summer with work by New York-based photographer Elle Pérez. The show “from sun to sun” opens on Aug. 13 and is the first in a series of art exhibitions on the bus stop stands to inject a bit of culture into riders’ daily commutes.

JCDecaux, which controls ad space at some 3,400 bus shelters across the city, has partnered with the Public Art Fund to display two solo photography exhibitions annually on the glass booths for 14 weeks at a time. Pérez, who uses gender neutral pronouns, has been photographing New York City for years and will create a new photos series for the exhibit exploring parts of the Bronx, where they grew up.

Elle Pérez/47 Canal

An assistant curator with the fund touted showcasing their work on bus shelters as an exciting way to directly connect the communities photographed with Pérez’s work.

“With from sun to sun, Pérez will have the opportunity to work within the infrastructure of the city and exhibit their photography for the first time within the diverse communities where the images were made, making this a deeply personal project,” Katerina Stathopoulou, with the Public Art Fund, said in a statement. “We’re thrilled to bring Pérez’s photography to such a public platform.”