CPOY 80 Multimedia: Online Storytelling
A website or collection of stories utilizing multiple mediums (still photography, video, audio, etc.). This category is open to work produced in a class or workshop setting with input and supervision by faculty or collaboration with other students, but outside professional help is not allowed. Judges will evaluate projects based on the strength of individual story components, editing, user interface, and overall effectiveness.
Finalist: Building in America
Building in America is a multimedia installation investigating the U.S. housing crisis through the often-invisible labor of undocumented immigrants in the construction industry. Through photography, video, sculpture, and research, the project exposes a central paradox: we rely on immigrant labor to build our homes while denying these same workers the opportunity to build stable lives.
Rooted in personal experience, my family has worked in Florida’s construction industry for decades. The project explores the intersection of immigration policy, labor, and economic inequality. It asks: who is allowed to “build” in America, and at what cost?
This current iteration includes four interwoven components:
1. Text + Research:
A central essay—available at https://www.building-in-america.com/is-the-housing-crisis-a-labor-issue—analyzes systemic labor shortages, generational disinterest in trades, and how immigrant labor, especially undocumented, has sustained residential construction amid growing policy restrictions. Additional research is available at https://www.building-in-america.com/project-research.
2. Still Photography:
Portraits and job-site images taken in Central Florida highlight the presence and physicality of undocumented laborers, who make up an estimated 20% of the workforce. The images challenge viewers to reconsider what is seen, valued, and erased. View them at https://www.building-in-america.com/the-invisible-force.
3. Short Documentary Video:
Shot in English, Spanish, and Portuguese, this bilingual video essay weaves the personal stories of immigrant workers with industry realities. It centers themes of aspiration, fear, and dignity. A trailer is available at https://www.building-in-america.com/what-we-build.
4. Sculptural Installation:
At the heart of the exhibition is a life-sized L-shaped wall—one side painted and complete, the other exposed. Visitors, especially immigrants, are invited to write and hammer messages into the open studs, creating a living, participatory archive of undocumented experience. Photos of the installation can be found at https://www.building-in-america.com/installations.
