

A rope blocks viewers from entering an exact replica of the oval office as it was when Jimmy Carter was in office

Elda Malpera (center) scratches her father, Sergio’s back, while her daughter, Rachel Gonzalez (right) removes a layer to stay cool. Sergio is in the advanced stages of cirrhosis of the liver and is always cold. He keeps the heat up and the oven on to reach 100° in his small apartment in Ridgewood, Queens.
A family photo of Elda as a child with her mother sits on a shelf next to Elda’s HIV medicaton.
Elda pauses to call her cable company to take advantage of a movie ticket promotion. The theater is too far away and they can’t go. Their family is on a tight budget and cannot always afford luxuries like movie tickets.
Elda comes home from busy day in pain. She has nerve damage in her legs and feet – a condition called neuropathy. She has been advised to be sedentary, but with all of her responsibilities, Elda finds this impossible.
Sergio, 61 is in the final stages of cirrhosis of the liver, the consequence of lifelong drinking. His skin bleeds easily, the by-product of a disorder associated with cirrhosis. Rachel acts as her grandfather’s nurse and carefully wipes blood from his chest. “Grandpa, don’t scratch,” she tells him
Rachel plays dress-up with her grandfather’s hospital gown in his apartment in Ridgewood, Queens.
Sergio sits up in bed after Elda and Rachel arrive at his house. He is weak and tired and needs help doing simple things like getting dressed and cleaning. Although Sergio is quite ill, he likes to talk about his former hobbies. He once enjoyed photography and was an exellent cook, but at this point all Sergio can eat are meal supplement drinks.
Elda sits in the center of a chaotic hotel room holding her nephew, while her sister Erica (left) disciplines her son, Nicolas and Rachel (right) looks on. Erica, 25, just drove from North Carolina to move Sergio to their house because he can no longer care for himself.
Exausted from a long week of work and moving, Elda rests on the train while Rachel plays with her hair, unaware of her mother’s mood.
After packing up her father, Elda and Rachel have to take three different trains to get from Sergio’s home in Ridgewood, Queens to their apartment in East New York, Brooklyn
Sergio and Elda in a cab en route to Sergio’s bank, where he will withdraw the balance from his account before moving to North Carolina the next day.