Ever wonder what happens to subway cars after they’re decommissioned? For cars owned by the Metropolitan Transit Authority, they’re dropped into the ocean to create artificial coral reefs. Photographer Stephen Mallon documented this dumping for his project “Next Stop Atlantic.”



For three years, Mallon traveled to the places where the cars were being discarded — in the Atlantic from the coast of Delaware to South Carolina.

“Seeing these massive mechanisms being tossed into the ocean like a toy in the bathtub is a ping in my heart,” Mallon writes. “At first I was stunned, the moments of violent recycling, watching the water quickly adapt to its new underwater houses. After being pushed and stacked like a sardine in these subways cars over the past decade, it is nice to see the sardine actually getting one of these as its new steel condo.”

These photographs will be on display from February 6 through March 15, 2015 over at the Kimmel Galleries at NYU. It will be part of an exhibition titled “Patterns of Interest.” You can also find more of Mallon’s work over on his website.

(via Reframe)

Image credits: Photographs by Stephen Mallon and used with permission