Shervone Neckles’ artwork at the Westchester Sq-East Tremont Av station honors the indigenous Siwanoy population, a band of Munsee-speaking Lenape, who lived for centuries in the area now known as The Bronx. “The Land Between Open Water” (2024) refers to Snakapins, a large village inhabited by the Siwanoy until they were displaced by Dutch and English settlers in the mid-1600s. The artwork consists of eight full height, painted steel panels set within the walls of the station at the platform level.

Archeological excavations and research conducted more than a century ago described the findings of earth pits, multi-purpose and multi-layered spaces used for the storage of valuable objects, as well as ground ovens, fireplaces, and burial sites. Earth pits often contained a top dressing of forest mold, stones, and dark soil.

The idea of home is central to Neckles’ artistic practice. Inspired by the construction and craftmanship of the unearthed contents, “The Land Between Open Water” features hollowed underground spaces resembling nests, as well as a box tortoise shell and antlers used by the Siwanoy to make jewelry, bowls, and other tools. Patterned backgrounds pick up lines and marks from fragments of indigenous earth-ware and pottery. A scene featuring a modern cityscape atop an earth pit is a nod to another artwork at the station: Romare Bearden’s faceted glass artwork “City of Glass,” installed in 1993.

Westchester Sq-East Tremont Av station received ADA accessibility upgrades that included new elevators, restoration of the historic headhouse, and other improvements including new artwork. The metal panels, fabricated by KC Fabrications, are visible at the platform and from street level. Four images repeat on both the southbound and northbound platforms. Gold accents on both inner and outer sides of the panels enliven the surfaces with a soft glow.

An interdisciplinary artist, Shervone Neckles makes embellished textiles, prints, sculptures, installations, and public art to retell Afro-Caribbean histories and mythologies. Her multimedia installation—an examination of selfhood and memory—was featured in the 2019 Venice Biennale’s Grenada Pavilion. She also recently created an outdoor installation at the Lewis H. Latimer House Museum (Flushing, Queens) to commemorate the life and legacy of the African-American inventor, which has traveled to Downtown Brooklyn (NY), Museum of Science (Boston, MA) Chelsea City Hall (Chelsea, MA) and Library Foundation of Los Angeles (Los Angeles, CA). In 2022-2023, her work was presented in a solo exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art (Jacksonville, FL). In 2023, she unveiled The Lunar Portal, a permanent public art installation at the University of Pittsburgh Mercy Pavilion Plaza (Pittsburgh, PA).