911 Art

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9/11/17

It’s still strange typing today’s date. I remember being a college sophomore watching the news from my white mini-tv with a vcr built into the bottom (remember those?). The same footage over and over.

In 2001 I was taking my first ever painting class. I was pretty close to declaring it my major. But I don’t remember the terror and confusion I was feeling watching the events of sixteen years ago unfold ever influencing any of the art I was making. I was barely an adult, and the world I’d always thought of as a safe home suddenly felt much bigger, less familiar, far less benign. I don’t remember what we talked about in art class in those days and months that followed. My only memories of that time are that little white television and what it showed me.

Sixteen years later and I’m still getting most of my news from a little white rectangle, this one even smaller. Art still feels new. I’m working on figuring out it’s place and purpose in my microscopic world and the ever-growing one around me.

A quick google search brought me to the 911 memorial site where you can check out several artists who created work that speaks specifically to the terrorist attacks of 2001. Art shows me something the news articles and videos on my iphone can’t. Looking at and reading about some of these artworks, was, for me an important reflection on today’s meaning. I hope they provide the same for you.

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