9/11 Responder’s Art Depicts the ‘Ability to Carry On'

Matthew Tyree was at the FDNY academy when the towers were struck. He responded to ground zero that day, and 15 years later the memories of the collapsed buildings are still seared in his mind. Tyree is one of many who have channeled the emotions from that day through expressions on canvas. For him, the result is a body of artwork that depicts these haunting scenes.

This work is now on view at The River Art Gallery in his community of North Tonawanda, N.Y. in an exhibition called “Renderings by the Captorist.”

“It’s the remnants that are the most vivid, the pieces of the facade that were still standing at ground zero,” Tyree said in the Niagara Gazette. “I saw it as a symbol of perseverance, there’s contrast between the light and the dark and it (represents) the ability to carry on.”

Tyree’s work is also featured on the 9/11 Memorial Museum’s Artists Registry, a virtual gallery of the artwork created in response to the attacks. Works of art submitted to the registry varies in medium from sculpture created out of found objects, to paintings, poetry and music.

By 9/11 Memorial Staff