What is usually hidden below the surface, erupts from the ground in Manhattan’s Garment District. Cold, white steel branches curve and splay in different directions, creating a tangled 22-foot installation. Steve Tobin’s New York Roots populates the Broadway plazas between 39th and 41st Street with seven sculptures that vary in height but all evoke the unseen networks that lie beneath the ground. The installation is a collaboration between the Garment District Alliance and New York City’s Department of Transportation Art Program. Pedestrians can weave in and out of the structures, inviting them to think about what connects us as human beings. The intertwined shapes and flowing forms create dramatic views and open spaces, offering new perspectives as people walk around and under them. Since 2010 the plaza in Midtown has featured artists including Chakaia Booker, who created a 35-foot-tall abstract sculpture made of repurposed rubber tires. New York Roots, is the latest installation, hosted by the Garment District Alliance, to touch down in the neighborhood. The installation New York Roots consists of seven sculptures made of steel, the tallest of which reaches 22 feet. (Alexandre Ayer) “New York Roots is a captivating addition to the Garment District that transforms our public plazas into spaces for reflection and serves as an important reminder to stay rooted in our communities,” said Barbara A. Blair, president of the Garment District Alliance. Officially named in 1919, the Garment District in Midtown Manhattan was once New York City’s epicenter of clothing manufacturing. Bolts of fabric and racks of clothing lined the streets to be sent all over the country. As it became cheaper to make clothes abroad, the factories that once supported the garment industry shut down, leading to the neighborhood’s decline. Tobin’s New York Roots recalls the history of the city, connecting the past and the future of the once vibrant neighborhood. Among his many significant installations, Tobin is recognized in New York City for Trinity Root. Dedicated in 2005, the 20-foot copper sculpture was one of the first monuments to commemorate 9/11. The sculpture was inspired by a sycamore tree that protected St. Paul’s Chapel at Trinity Church as Lower Manhattan around it was decimated by the attacks. New York Roots, and Tobin’s other works, aren’t just art– they act as guardians of space, encouraging people to pause, connect, and feel a sense of unity in their surroundings. New York Roots will be on view to the public through February 2026.