My father, David Rubinowitz, suddenly passed away in February of 2012. He was a survivor of the world trade center bombing on 9/11. After that day he was changed forever, and so was I.

Before my father passed I drew a picture that one day randomly came into my mind. I quickly sketched it out and knew that it had some sort of meaning, but didn't know what. When I returned to school I talked to my art teacher and told her I wanted to work on a big project. The skyline of New York City is in the background and a man, who is composed of the head of a fireman, body of a policemen, legs of a medical worker, and feet of a business man, is holding up one of the falling World Trade Center building’s. 9/11 impacted my life deeply because I lived in New York at the time, and my father was a survivor. The man is representing all of the people who were affected. The building, which is filled in with newspaper and key words, is representing their lives. My piece shows the struggle that everyone had to go through, in the aftermath of 9/11, just to hold their life together. I didn't realize this meaning until after my father passed. I knew that for me to hold my life together and to keep my father's memory alive I needed to physically create this piece. My art teacher supported me the entire time by giving and buying me all the materials I needed. I put all of my energy, time, and emotions into this piece. I worked before school, during school, and after school to complete it and as my piece started to come together I felt that my life was beginning to come together too, piece by piece. This project took me over three months to complete and I ended up creating a five by four foot piece that now hangs in my new home in California. Every day I walk down my staircase and stare at the work that I finished. Every day I smile because I did this for my father. I am so proud of this accomplishment and I know in my heart that my father is too.