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Nikki S. Lee, Yuppie Project (4), 1998, fujiflex print, 21 1/4 x 28 1/4 inches, Collection of Leslie Tonkonow and Klaus Ottmann, copyright 1998 Nikki S. Lee, image courtesy of Sikkema Jenkins & Co., New York
Nikki S. Lee (b. 1970) is a performance artist and photographer. By assuming the roles of a yuppie, punk, schoolgirl, senior citizen, and dancer, among others, Lee explores identity, its malleability, and its constructed nature. After acclimating to each identity group and spending time with it, Lee asks its members to take her picture with others in the group, documenting her time within that community. In her series The Ohio Project and The Yuppie Project, she examines how class is both constructed and enacted on a daily basis.
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CLASS
IS ABOUT...
People Like Us: Social Class In America, directed by Louis Alvarez and Andrew Kolker (New York: The Center for New American Media, 2001), DVD.
"I ALWAYS THOUGHT MY WHOLE LIFE YOU WORK HARD AND YOU'LL DO OKAY. MAYBE YOU DON'T WORK HARD BY BUSTING YOUR BACK, BUT YOU JUST WORK HARD. THAT'S WHAT YOU DO. I DIDN'T REALIZE THAT SOME PEOPLE WEREN'T WORKING SO HARD AND THEY STILL HAD TONS OF MONEY."
I'M NOW A
MIDDLE CLASS
PROFESSIONAL AND I HAVE THIS FOUNDATION IN
A WORKING
CLASS ETHOS...
(:58 sec)
CLICK TO PLAY AUDIO
I THINK OF AN HOURLY WAGE.
I THINK OF
THE WORD UNDEREDUCATED,
NOT UNEDUCATED...
(0:54 min)
CLICK TO PLAY AUDIO
I'VE LIVED IN AN APARTMENT PRETTY MUCH SINCE THE DAY I MOVED OUT OF MY PARENTS' TRAILER...
(0:38 min)
CLICK TO PLAY AUDIO
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When I was about fourteen or fifteen, we had to move out of the rental house that we were living in, and we were living in a very expensive part of California. It was very stressful for my mother, who was trying to keep me in the same school district. So stressful that she pretty much just gave up house hunting and retreated into drinking and sleeping. So I found our next rental house by looking at ads in the classified section of the newspaper. I don't think that really should've been my responsibility, as a young teenager, but she just couldn't handle all the stress.
Classless Society Stories Project
I got taken off my mom's food stamps because I don't live with her for the majority of the year, so she can't afford to buy groceries for me. So I have to save up my own money so that I can buy my own food when I'm at home. I have to think: I have to get a job when I go back, I can't just relax for the summer. So I mean, I think that definitely contributes to that apprehension you feel towards spending money or doing anything, because you think like, well if I do that it means I won't be able to do this in the future. I It's kind of scary to think about life like that.
Classless Society Stories Project
WHEN I WAS ABOUT FOURTEEN OR FIFTEEN, WE HAD TO MOVE OUT OF THE RENTAL HOUSE THAT WE WERE LIVING IN...
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I GOT TAKEN OFF MY MOM'S FOOD STAMPS BECAUSE I DON'T LIVE WITH HER FOR THE MAJORITY OF THE YEAR...
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