Arts for Transit and Urban Design

Yonkers

Barbara Segal

Muhheakantuck (The River that Flows Two Ways), 2005

Aluminum reliefs on train overpass

Barbara Segal's artwork is composed of two gigantic metal artworks. Muhheakantuck is an Indian word for the Hudson River. The cast aluminum sculptures are located on the sides of the bridge the trains use and can be viewed both by commuters at the station and by those passing by on the streets below. The artist, a Yonkers resident, consulted both art-historical and scientific sources to evoke the river's past. Segal was taken by the fact that the river in this area can actually flow upstream as well as down, depending on tidal conditions. She explained to the Westchester Times: "The work is an abstract representation of the river...The sun and moon will constantly change the lighting on the sculpture, and the shadows will change with the sunrise and sunset." The sculpture is installed, the artist notes, at a spot where the river's original shoreline was situated before landfill and development of the riverfront.