Weeds of Brooklyn was created over a four-month period of time while Freedman was living in New York City in 2015. On his route home from the nearest subway station, he would regularly collect plant matter growing out of and next-to the sidewalk in Bedford-Stuyvesant, a rapidly changing neighborhood in Brooklyn.

Once home, Freedman would transform his finds into assemblages on his studio wall that reference historical botanical illustrations – an art form and practice that felt immense pressure during the advent of photography. Through this exercise, Freedman pondered both the technological benefits and negative side effects of the photographic medium while also considering the invasive plant specimens as analogous to a conversation surrounding the nature and habit of gentrification.