The artwork created for the station honors Malcolm X and consists of quotations within mosaic panels that line the stairway walls at the entrance and an upright wall on the station platform. Speaking of her work, Maren Hassinger said, "Basically, I wanted to make something that behaved very physically with the site while also honoring the memory of Malcolm X..." Among the quotations are "I believe in a society in which people can live like human beings on the basis of equality," and, "Nobody's going to straighten out Harlem but us." "The upright wall within the station contains images/symbols of prowess on one side and Malcolm's words on the reverse side, the artist said." Here the idea of power, leadership, and spiritual support are linked. Malcolm X believed that we as African Americans have the power to determine our destinies. This station is a reminder of that truth."

Maren Hassinger received an MFA in fiber from the University of California, Los Angelesin 1973. Hassinger's study of fibers proved beneficial to her work in sculpture, and she learned techniques that would inform her later work. Hassinger is the Emeritus Director of the Rinehart School of Sculpture at Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, which she led for more than twenty years. During a career that has spanned more than four decades, Hassinger has explored relationships between the industrial and natural worlds in a practice that is both meditative and critical. Currently, her work is focused on exploring issues of equality.