Brooklyn Artist Turns Cracked Subway Tiles Into Living Art, Catches Mayor’s Attention

A Brooklyn artist’s unusual fix for a broken subway tile has gone viral and is now drawing interest from Mayor Mamdani’s office and the MTA about turning it into a formal city program.

The artist, who goes by Eujue and does not share her last name, posted a video showing her replacing a cracked “E” tile at the Delancey St.-Essex St. station on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Rather than restoring the standard black lettering, she installed a ceramic tile where the letter “E” is formed from living chia plants. The post drew more than a million views.

Eujue told the New York Post she was inspired by a poem she read in college, “All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace,” by Richard Brautigan, which imagined a future where plants, animals and technology coexist.

“This speculative world described a future where plants, animals, and technology coexisted in harmony. This pushed me to want to build speculative objects that existed in a post apocalyptic future; a world where plants reclaim spaces that were once theirs,” she said.

Eujue argues that missing or damaged subway tiles shouldn’t automatically be treated as maintenance failures, and she’s encouraging other artists to use them as a canvas for reshaping the city.

“NYC has always been a place where artists shape the city’s culture, and I hope our public spaces can reflect that. I’d love to make the everyday places we move through feel more cared for and more connected to the people who live here,” she said.

To organize the effort, Eujue and her brother built a website called NYC Tile Watch, where riders can report broken or missing subway tiles. Once a report is submitted, local artists can step in to replace the tile with their own creation. The site has so far logged 24 approved reports, and a public interest form lets riders help gauge artist participation.

The project has caught the attention of Mayor Mamdani’s team, and Eujue said she is in talks with both the mayor’s office and the MTA about potentially expanding NYC Tile Watch into a formal city program.

“The missing ‘E’ tile was a small change, but it made me think about how many overlooked spaces we pass by everyday,” Eujue said.

The TikTok video that launched her into the spotlight has drawn thousands of supportive comments, with one user writing, “This is NYC. Art moves our city I love it, it’s soooo NYC,” and another suggesting commuters could pitch in to keep the plant tiles alive: “What if we New Yorkers pitch in watering them too! That way they live a little longer.”

In the week since the video spread, Eujue has picked up thousands of new followers and been dubbed a local “subway hero” online. She said she hopes the project continues to grow.

“I’d love to make the everyday places we move through feel more cared for and more connected to the people who live here,” she said.