Gail Karlsson is an environmental lawyer and activist, now focusing on nature education through writing and photography. She is the author of two books about nature in New York City – Meeting Trees in City Hall Park and A Birds’ Guide to The Battery and New York Harbor and a new booklet showcasing her installation in New Yorks City – Bird Banners in City Hall Park.
She also spends much of her time on the island of St. John in the US Virgin Islands, where she has written three books: Looking For Birds On St. John, Learning About Trees and Plants – A Project of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of St. John, and The Wild Life in an Island House. In addition she writes a regular nature column for the online newspaper The Virgin Islands Source. visource.com
Current project: Installation of City Hall Park Bird Banners Project in lower Manhattan. A year long outside exhibition in the park on the fence along the path north of City Hall. An Art in the Park project for NYC Parks sponsored by Friends of City Hall Park and the City Hall Park Conservancy
Click and scroll below to see inside the booklet
Click and scroll below to see inside
Complementing this book, banners with photos of many of the birds presented in the book have been on display on lampposts around Battery Park since June 2022, even appearing in the final episode of the series Succession. (Reddit photo)
For a slideshow of selected banners displayed in the park click here: http://www.thebattery.org/programs/birdbanners/
