
<p>From Toomey Abbott Towers, Clifton Jackson grooves to the sound of classical music and makes art influenced by his environment. From afar, the University’s student dormitory acts as an identical neighbor to the Toomey Towers. Whoever looks closely will discover two juxtaposing worlds that are close in proximity, but house different realities.</p>


Jackson, a longtime resident of Syracuse, has lived in the Towers for a year, along with many family members. Two relatives live on his floor and his mom resides upstairs. He is a fan of SU basketball and has always wanted either to go to the university or seek out education away from home, but his family ties kept him in the city.

Angela Owens

Tracy DeMarco

One of Syracuse University’s student dormitory buildings, known as BBB, glows with different colored rooms, while Toomey Abbott Towers looms beside it (left). The Towers were once student housing themselves and have been turned into a residency for assisted living and senior independent housing, which provides residents in need with caregivers, meals and other resources.

Jackson’s portfolio consists of work influenced by faces, scenery and abstract ideas, and he often teaches homeschooled kids art. “We all do a project of our thought and our mind. Everybody has a song and everybody has a story. So what is your story? That’s what it is,” Jackson said.

Every night, colorful lights radiate from the JMA Wireless Dome painting Clifton Jackson’s apartment walls, creating a masterpiece that his friends visit him to bask in. He sits by his window to work on his art, which often takes a depressive tone influenced by his experience with losing loved ones to circumstances like heart attacks, strokes, suicide and drugs.

The Alexia Fall Workshop

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The View From There

Produced by

Cassandra Roshu

Coached by

Angela Owens

Tracy DeMarco