Tree Hustler (Canal St, 125 St, Nostrand Ave & Fulton St.)
Black Forest (BF) and Residency Unlimited (RU) present Tree Hustler, a street performance by Ekene Ijeoma as part of RU’s NYC Artist in Residence program. This is Ekene’s first residency and performance in NYC! Over two days, Ekene will sell 160 trees along four streets, using a wearable sculpture/trench coat with 40 pockets for trees. He will carry at least 40 baby trees, mostly ficus species yet to be determined, at each stop. The trees can be preordered, with options like BOGO and plant/bag bundles, at bf.world/shop. If you're outside NYC, you can buy a tree for someone else or share this event with a friend.
April 10 (Manhattan):
Canal St & Broadway Ave: 1–230 pm
125th St & Lenox Ave: 330–5 pm
April 11 (Brooklyn):
Fulton St & Nostrand Ave: 1–230 pm
Fulton Mall (Albee Square): 330–5 pm
RSVP for updates, as times and locations are subject to change.
About Black Forest
Black Forest is an initiative that is breathing new life into Black communities by planting trees and archiving Black nature. As the founder and director of Black Forest (BF), Ekene has been raising funds and developing partnerships to plant over 40,000 trees across the U.S., Africa, and the Diaspora over 12 years. Since 2022, we’ve planted over 600 trees in parks, lawns, sidewalks, and trails across 8 states and 9 cities, including 200 here in the South Bronx. The numbers 4/40 and 12 reference 40 Acres and a Mule and 12 Years a Slave, framing this work as a form of reparations.
In fall 2025, Trump canceled 1.5 billion in funds that would've been used to plant trees in marginalized communities. So Ekene’s been finding new ways to fundraise through his art practice, starting with Stone Circle Bench 1 and 2 for the Boston Public Art Triennial, then Tree Grills for Dutch Design Week, Tree Hustler for this residency, and this fall, planting over 100 trees across Nashville for his fellowship at Vanderbilt University.
About Ekene Ijeoma
Ekene Ijeoma is a Nigerian-American conceptual artist who researches social, political, and environmental systems to poetically expose inequities and mutually empower communities. His multidisciplinary practice spans participatory landworks, interactive light installations, and data-driven performances that expand on Black American and African experiences, traditions, and symbols through design and technology.
His interdisciplinary projects include community events where trees are planted for Black lives across the US, jazz performances in which notes are removed from the Star-Spangled Banner at the increasing rate of incarceration in the US, and sculptures in which a wage-based height map of NYC is submerged in water at rising rent costs.
About Residency Unlimited
Residency Unlimited is a non-profit arts organization that supports the creative process of US based and international artists and curators at all stages of their careers through its unique, customized residencies and year-round public programs. Our growing global network consists of 850+ alumni. In 2024, RU hosted residencies for 62 artists and 15 curators from 39 countries. Since RU’s founding in 2009, collaboration and developing partnerships lie at the heart of our mission to successfully leverage resources for participating residents and optimize their experience.
RU is located within the historic South Congregational Church in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn. The building’s architecture—with its high ceilings, stained glass windows—offers a unique setting in a multi-purpose space that serves as a work hub and creative nexus.