I love working with type and I started making this set of hand-drawn, animated letters representing New York City’s subway lines as a love letter to NYC. I’ve pulled the imagery from the neighborhoods that our trains move through, used common items in the subway as textures, and found shapes in the architecture and sights around us as we get where we’re going. I’ve been drawing these on the trains, and other subway riders have peered over my shoulder as I work and started conversations with me about the lines they take to live, play and work and the communities we move through.
 

The film is available as as a full set of loops at LoveLetters.city and a 2-minute festival cut short film.

World Premiere: 2023 Coney Island Film Festival.
Official Selection: Transparent Film Festival.
Official Selection: Type@Cooper Typographics 2023.
Official Selection: Chain NYC Film Festival.
Best Animated Short: Gothamite Monthly Film Awards June 2023.
Finalist: French Duck Film Festival, Paris.
Special Mention: One-Reeler Short Film Competition.
Featured Short: Curation Hour.

 

Illustration and motion graphics: Mary Hawkins
Composer and sound designer: Carlos Dengler