The decaying neighborhood around South Brooklyn’s Gowanus Canal is slowly being reclaimed. Only a few yards from the Canal’s landmark 1889 Carroll Street Bridge, one of just four retractable bridges left in the United States, a massive concrete wall has been fashioned into a work of public art, stressing the importance of literacy. The artwork has been either enhanced or defaced by an overlay of colorful graffiti, depending upon the viewer’s point of view. I layer the image with a screen of heavy weeds, symbolizing the extent of the work that lies ahead for the area’s residents.