In the process of creating what she calls “self-cannibalized” assemblages, Friedman-Pappas continually disassembles and rearranges found bits of driftwood, plastic figurines, half-chewed dog toys, phragmites, and other materials from the Freshkills area. The results are objects that appear to be neither hand-crafted nor found; they are weathered by wind or decomposed under layers of soil, but are simultaneously new.

In the story of the Tower of Babel, God punishes the Babylonians for pridefully attempting to build a tower tall enough to grasp Heaven. He fatally confuses them by introducing varied language to a homogenous global tongue—