My flag-and-barbell piece for November’s Met employee art show was my biggest art undertaking this year, for which I also created this suit and tie from two small areas of the flag that I liked and had printed on fabric. I affectionately call it my “retirement suit” and wore it to the show’s opening. I’ve always said I’ve been dressing in drag for work for years: it helps me play my role as a security guard. Thank you to Andrea from Soleil NYC Textiles, who helped me refine my design and got the fabric printed, and to Nelly, the seamstress, whose dog bit me at our first meeting, and with whom we both faced a real language barrier but got through it in the end with a lot of smiles.

This piece is my swan song as far as large work-related pieces for the Met employee art show goes. This exhibition opportunity has been the best fringe benefit of my day job, and the greatest introduction to my many talented co-workers and what they make. It has thirty stars for thirty years of my working at the Met. And on the border are wage pins of most everyone who participated in the Met wage transparency pin project—on the right side, updated ones, and on the left, outdated ones.