The American Dream Gone Awry
THE AMERICAN DREAM GONE AWRY (bird's eye view)
wood, paper, plastic, plaster, metal, cardboard, rubber, canvas, acrylic latex paint & fluorescent lights
240"H x 168"W x 276"D
2007
The American Dream Gone Awry is part 2 of the installation series Memory in "C" Minority depicting one year of my childhood in a 1973 South Bronx building. This installation depicts my family’s winter sleeping arrangement on a twin-sized mattress in the living room of an insect- and rodent-infested apartment. A stove moved out of the kitchen provides the only heat available and a star-clustered bed sheet provided the only covering for the mother and two young children. Alluding to the Puerto Rican flag is a fallen paper star just beneath a floating mattress, a testament to the sanctuary family bonds create due to culture shock.