Brooklyn Seeds

2011 Ave U (Q) New York City Transit

Jason Middlebrook's mosaic installation, "Brooklyn Seeds," is a monumentally-scaled garden of wildflowers climbing up the stair wall extending from Avenue U to the elevated train platform. Created in glass mosaic, the choice of plants is based on local wildflowers that grow in unlikely places, through cracks in the sidewalk, alleys, and walls. Middlebrook's work explores the place where the urban and human-made intersect with the natural to survive and flourish. These flowers, often weeds, include such local specimens as spotted knapweed, burdock, golden rod, aster, milkweed, and daises. Above many of the mosaic plants are airborne seed pods floating away to germinate, on a journey of their own.