Five years after Sept. 11 changed the Manhattan
skyline forever, the Brooklyn Arts Council (BAC) is paying homage
to the fallen Twin Towers by putting the memory-making into the
hands of the people.
In "Here Was New York: Twin Towers in Memorial Images,"
a collection of images of the Towers culled from community members
throughout the New York area will be displayed in 12 galleries
across Brooklyn. The photographs document a wide range of expressions,
including everything from homemade shrines and fridge or mantle
displays, to wall murals and graffiti, as well as tattoos, T-shirts,
and custom painting on trucks, among others.
BAC folklorist Kay Turner, who curated the show, told GO Brooklyn
that it was her own wanderings in downtown Manhattan in the days
following 9-11 – and the absence of a formal memorial today –
that inspired her to collect images of local forms of remembrance
in order to keep the Towers visible.
"People have taken charge of their own memorializing until
a rebuild really starts to happen," said Turner. "The
photographic medium is very democratic in the sense that almost
anyone can use a camera. When a traumatic event like 9-11 occurs,
people need a way to believe that it’s really happened. These
pictures are a way for us to affirm that it did happen, and here’s
something that stands for the way New York was before."
The collection of images will eventually be used to create an
archive that may be transferred to a museum at Ground Zero, said
Turner.
"Here Was New York: Twin Towers in Memorial Images"
will be on display at BAC Gallery, 111 Front St. at Adams Street,
Suite 218 in DUMBO through Sept. 30. Admission is free. For a
complete list of participating galleries, call the Brooklyn Arts
Council at (718) 625-0080.
