Christopher Myers: Unbound at Brooklyn Central Library

Brooklyn Public Library's Central Library is hosting Unbound, a new site-specific show by artist and children's book author Christopher Myers. Architecturally scaled tapestries and original stained-glass sculptures appear across the building's façade, Grand Lobby, Youth Wing and second-floor balcony. It runs August 1, 2026 through January 15, 2027.

The centerpiece is a pair of 40-foot tapestries that weave together characters and settings from frequently banned books, including George Orwell's Animal Farm and Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye. Tied to the library's Books Unbanned initiative, the works celebrate the expansive vision of authors whose stories can be shut out, and point to what is lost through censorship.

The second thread comes from Night Ride, Myers's picture book due from Penguin Random House in September 2026. Its cast of New York kids bikes across Brooklyn and the other boroughs under the night sky, rendered in jewel-toned stained glass that sketches out recognizable cityscapes. The figures beckon visitors into the library as the next stop on their ride.

Myers was born in New York in 1974 and lives and works in Brooklyn. He won a Caldecott Honor for Harlem and a Coretta Scott King Award for illustrating Firebird with Misty Copeland, and his work is in the collections of the Brooklyn Museum and the National Gallery of Art, among others. Entry is free at the Central Library on Grand Army Plaza, an easy pairing with Prospect Park, the Botanic Garden and the Brooklyn Museum.