City of Trees - An art and land-stewardship project as part of KODA’s Land & Environment Residency, 2021

New York City is home to over 8 million people, but it is also home to an expansive urban forest of 5.2 million trees. These trees help us breathe more easily, keep us cool when the weather is hot, and protect our streets and homes from the rising waters of big storms. City Of trees explores the reciprocal relationship between New-Yorkers and the leafy community of trees we share our city with. 

Harkening back to the time when art and natural sciences were intimately intertwined, this work is inspired by the 19th century artist/scientist Anna Atkins.  An article  in the magazine Lady Science captured much of what drew me to Atkins’ work: “She  worked at a time when the line we now draw between science and art was much less firm and her prints reflect the truth in that collapsed boundary. Atkins navigated the boundaries both of  “acceptable” science for women and anonymity. And through her work also navigated and further blurred the boundaries between art, photography and science”.

 In an homage to Atkins, this work  explores New York City’s urban forest through the tactile medium of cyanotype sun prints. My inquiry developed in a kind of double register: the first delving into the NYC Parks Department’s tree map – A “living, breathing” map of the city’s urban forest. The map is interactive and records acts of care or stewardship residents have given to the trees living within it, as well as the changing landscape as trees are dying or  being planted. Nestled within these images is another photographic inquiry, based on walking the urban forest and collecting different leaves, green matter and detritus from trees all over the city. 

As part of City Of Trees A public engagement program running in November and December highlighted through workshops the urban canopy as an urgent political and social-justice issue as well as hands-on experience with caring for our city trees.

Thank you to the NYC Parks Department, Trees NY, 350BK, FiveMYles Gallery, KODA, and The Brooklyn Botanical Garden for their input and contribution to this project.