Queens, New York ◦ 2018

Queens Understory

Concept

With Queens Understory, Salt Tree Art collected personal experiences during public outreach events throughout 2018, including NYC SummerStage and the Sunnyside Better World Festival.

We asked Queens residents to decorate wood medallions, inspired by their best Queens memories, their favorite spots in the borough, or any imagery that Queens sparked in them. Like each ring in the trunk of a tree forms a fragment of the tree’s life story, the wood medallions collectively created a larger story of the human experience.

The submissions reflect the incredible diversity of Queens, with participants’ sketches ranging from their families and local parks, to sports teams and favorite foods. We’ve assembled all of the submissions into a “Queens understory” as a digital gallery below.

Project Partnerships

Queens Understory submissions were collected during Salt Tree Art’s public events, during public outreach as a community partner for the City Parks Foundation SummerStage 2018 concert series, and during the Better World Festival produced by Sunnyside Shines and Love, Hallie.

Queens Understory also received support from Queens-based artists Ashley Rebecca King, Nicholas Enna, and Kristen Terrana-Hollis. Each of these artists created a larger piece to help promote the project during events within their communities.

Digital Gallery