My wife Eve Biddle and I designed this mural, located on India Street between West Street and the East River.

The India Street Rocket offers a metaphor for celebration in uncertain times. Transcending one's environment is possible: spaceships can exist even where least plausible. The India Street Rocket blasts off into the future. As Brooklyn and the rest America move through uncertain economic times, calamity and prosperity are visible on the horizon simultaneously. Will we overcome this moment of upheaval, emerging stronger than we were before, will we escape unscathed, or not escape at all? And what happens after that? These questions hang in the air, even over India Street.

The verticality of the rocket flies in the face of the overwhelming horizontal nature of the wall. The brilliant colors bring energy to the block, illuminating India Street. Potential is revealed.

We must calibrate our dreams with an upward trajectory.


The mural is part of the India Street Mural Project and was commissioned by The North Brooklyn Public Art Coalition and coordinated with assistance from Groundswell.

The short documentary was created by Vanara Taing in 2009.

The photo below was taken in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy when, for some reason, great amounts of steam were rising up from the sewer grates below the rocket.

This mural is located two blocks from the Greenpoint Avenue stop on the G train. Recently, a water taxi ferry terminal was built on the same block. So you can reach the rocket by train or boat. Here's the map:

View Public Murals by Eve Biddle and Joshua Frankel in a larger map