The surreal, yet nostalgic works in my "Tenement" series were inspired by the working class housing which is pervasive throughout Brooklyn. These buildings are now decaying, often advertised as “luxury apartments,” and increasingly overshadowed by new high-rise structures cutting into Brooklyn neighborhoods like knives.

This work juxtaposes old world mythology and immigrant culture with the realities of contemporary Brooklyn life. Baba Yaga is a character of Eastern European folklore, a witch who lives in a house atop a giant chicken leg. I was fascinated by the tale, and wondered how she would live as an immigrant in Brooklyn. Her home is a tenement, much like the one my great-grandmother would have lived in when she immigrated to Brooklyn at the age of 12. Today’s immigrants must adapt to an ever-changing landscape, defined by class as much as by architecture. Establishing a community in Brooklyn is difficult in the face of gentrification and ghetto-ization. Neighborhoods are now more defined by social class, and the whims of landlords, than by culture.

- Nicole Schulman