The project “American Dream” was completed in collaboration with ninth and tenth grade students at the East Side Community High School, where students created self-portraits representing their own idea of the “American Dream” using only text. The resulting images are digital self-portraits representing 9th and 10th grade students’ (from specific neighborhood or just all NYC?) ideas about the American Dream. In the background, a paragraph telling the personal story of each student is visible but not necessarily legible. The words making up the portrait were chosen because each student thought they were the most important or represented their ideas the best. The project asks them to think about and reflect on their own lives, and the opportunities and privileges that they have, that countless people from all over the world move to America for. Through this project, each student has redefined the American Dream in his or her own right.
