Artists Registry

When I was 5 years old, I painted this response to the World Trade Center tragedy of September 11th. While I painted, my grandmother wrote down my words and the meaning of my painting, as I described it to her 14 years ago, in 2001.

"As Alexandra works on this painting, she speaks of her feelings about the World Trade Center bombing and the people who died. I ask her, 'How does what happened on September 11th make you feel'? She says simply, 'It makes me sad' and asks a question in return, 'Why did they bomb our world'?

Continuing to paint, Alexandra explains, 'This brown is the building where everyone died' (the brown painted form in the bottom center of the painting.) 'The white lines on the brown are the windows'. Working with red paint, she continues to talk about the meaning of the color. 'Red is the fire'. Using bright yellow paint, she draws the sun. Brushing paint on her own hands, one hand in violet, the other hand in blue, Alexandra places her paint covered hands directly on the painting making sure to overlap the fingertips. Then, again painting a single one of her hands, she places a green handprint on top of the sun. I ask, 'Why are you putting your handprints in the painting'? She replies softly, 'These are the hands of love'."

This painting is included in The Unity Canvas, 300 artists respond to the World Trade Center Disaster, first exhibited in September of 2002 at the Williamsburg Art & Historical Center, Brooklyn, NY, and in 2006 at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, NYC.