This piece was done in response in my short time studying abroad in Berlin last summer. Since it was my first time out of the United States, I experienced quite a bit of culture shock akin to the saying “the grass is greener on the other side”. I kept putting everyone and everything there on a pedestal, which I wasn’t self-aware of until halfway through my abroad program. I wanted to recreate this feeling with these character portraits. These are working-class people, but their depiction is full of contradiction more akin to outlandish pinups. I fetishized their roles in society literally to get across the pseudo-fetishization I had imposed onto the people of Berlin. In creating a striking and alluring color pallet to draw the viewer in, it also serves to further set these portraits out of reality. I hope that the more the viewer views these portraits, the more the contradictions will set in subverting their initial impressions of the piece whatever they may be. I installed and displayed these works in a gallery through a collaborative curation effort with other artists from my abroad program.