Student of the PhD program in Environmental Psychology at the Graduate Center, City University of New York

Kristy McCarthy is a professional muralist, teaching artist, and community organizer based in East Harlem. Painting under the moniker “D.Gale,” she utilizes art as a powerful tool to build community, raise awareness about social and environmental justice issues, and heal collective trauma.

Kristy is an alumnus of the Laundromat Project’s Create Change Fellowship and has centered her practice around community engagement and participatory art-making. As a trauma-informed teaching artist, she has been contracted by NGOs and institutions across NYC such as Groundswell, Creative Art Works, Thrive Collective, and the NYC Department of Health. In 2022, Kristy was lead muralist for the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s New York City Mural Arts Project, working to destigmatize mental health conditions through community-engaged art making, and she recently completed two murals in South Brooklyn Health Emergency room for the NYC Health and Hospital’s Arts in Medicine program.

Internationally, she served as an ECA Arts Envoy in La Paz, Bolivia, and as an aerosol artist-educator for Next Level in United Arab Emirates (2023) and Botswana (2024). She has painted in mural conferences and art festivals all over Latin America, including Akumal Art Festival in Mexico, Indómita Festival de Arte Urbano in Ecuador, and Amazonarte in Peru.

Her practice also extends to community organizing and cultural production. She is a founding member of HART: The Harlem Art Collective and has spearheaded over twenty socially engaged public art installations in her neighborhood of East Harlem, including their flagship project – the Guerrilla Gallery. She is co-producer of Fiesta de Colores, a socially engaged street art festival in coastal Ecuador that aims to empower marginalized communities and assist in post-earthquake reconstruction efforts.

Kristy is a recipient of the 2019 New York City Council Proclamation and a City Council Citation. She has been awarded various other awards and accolades, including a Diploma of Artistic Merit from the National Assembly of Ecuador and the People’s Choice Award from the Art Lives Here Festival. She is currently pursuing her Phd in Environmental Psychology at the CUNY Graduate Center.

Research Interests: Intersection between street art and grassroots activism, urban placemaking, and community building

Tenure: 2024 – present