Fifteen Percent

Heather Fraccalvieri

Depicted here is a film school graduate.
This painting is one of three in a series that explored the idea that the American Dream that Millennials were raised on turned out to be unattainable when they came of age. A generation was raised on the promise that hard work and a college diploma guaranteed that any dream for the future to be fulfilled. Instead, a generation instead faced one of the country’s worst recessions, a workforce that promoted experience over education, and an inflation that has made it impossible to obtain the idyllic picture of the job, family, and the house with the white picket fence.
For many, especially those who pursued creative fields, the reality of making a living contrast with the passions and pursuits that teachers and parents promised were within reach.

Oil on canvas