Artists Registry

September 11th installation project

My own nightmares of September 11th have resulted in these images of the Twin Towers, airplanes, helpless falling victums, faces peering through slits of windows silently watching, an American flag empty of color over which floats sheer fabric written with the names of those who perished in the disaster. Using needle, thread and paint I construct my images, combining two dimensional painting with sculpting the canvas or organdy into a free standing 3D sculpture.

The installation results in a powerful emotional statement when one walks into the room, the two ghostly shapes that descend from the ceiling with their trailing tendrils brushing ashes on the floor sets the tone with its almost other-worldly recalling of the ghosts of the tragedy. The walls are graced with eerily transparent airplanes drawn on organdy sewn on overlapping stretchers that are covered with bare canvas, giving an unearthly yet mesmerizing effect. The second room's central piece cascades from the ceiling in an undulating cylinder of transparent organdy filled with blackened falling figures made of canvas. The walls depict watching figures peeking through windows, a man crushed by debris, and finally an American flag painted with heavily textured black paint dripping no color, floating over the flag are all the names of the victums written on transparent organdy revealing the stars and stripes underneath. The amount of names packs a gut wrenching wallop when one sees the amount of fabric on the floor.

Hopefully my nightmares will decrease by executing this work and I can move on to my next project, but I know it will always be with me and be with us.