Freedom Tower Caste System, Basement     2004      The Freedom Tower Caste System began as a series of paintings that depicted different floors in a building, with different activities on each floor. Each floor represented a level of economic status ranging from the wealthiest at the top floor, to blue collar workers who maintained the building in the basement. For this video, I recreated one of the paintings of the basement. The actions represent most of the jobs I have had in New York City. The backdrop and props are designed from memories of some of these jobs. As a young working artist, this piece shows some of the economic realities I faced to make ends meet. Currently, I have not made any other videos for the other floors, although "15 Minute Musical" comes close to representing the top floor.