Posted on October 16, 2015 by Latoya Peterson in Fusion Fusion, By Latoya Peterson Ekene Ijeoma is an artist, a designer and programmer by trade. He created his interactive art piece, “Wage Islands” by using the median monthly housing cost data in New York City, sourced from the American Community survey. Wage Islands is simple, yet dazzling—a 3-D printed replica of New York City is almost completely submerged in black water. As the user hits a button, water recedes, revealing more of NYC. The button that users press represents an increase to the hourly wage—at $8.75 cents per hour, most of NYC is off limits, leaving only a few selected areas peeking above the water line. A powerful commentary on housing accessibility and income, Ijeoma’s work does what thousands of anti-gentrification screeds and reams of white papers have not been able to accomplish: providing a clear understanding of the scope of the affordable housing crisis in New York City.
