For those of you who read my post on September 11 this year, you’ll remember that I mentioned how after the towers went down, for months afterwards there seemed to be an awful “hole in the sky”. For months, I left the curtains in my window overlooking the World Trade Center closed. The hole was just too painful to stare at every day.
On March 22, 2002, starting at dawn, two brilliant spotlights shone all through the night until dusk, in the footprints of the original World Trade Center. I remember opening my curtains that night and sitting and starting at the beautiful lights, which when seen up close looked uncannily like the beams that once held up the tower. It was one of those moments when art helped in the healing process. At once, the lights were a reminder of what we had lost, but also a beautiful tribute to those who were lost and a beacon of hope for the future.
It’s funny, I’d always assumed that this was a project of New York City government, but in actuality it was independently conceived and designed by a group of several artists and designers under the auspices of the non-profit organizations Municipal Art Society and Creative Time.
Something else that might surprise you is that the future of this tribute is not guaranteed. While originally funded by a grant from the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation and Con Ed, the future funding of the lights, which cost a lot of money to maintain, is in jeopardy. The MAS is reaching out to the public, asking if they could make a generous donation online or by calling 212-935-3960.
In addition, ArtSpace Marketplace is selling limited editions of photographic prints for only $150. Here’s a sampling of the beautiful prints.
Proceeds of sales from these prints will go to help keep the tribute going. Whether you support the effort through direct donations or by buying the prints, it a worthy cause which should continue at least until new the skyline has finally taken shape, and then even after that as a fitting way to remember what once was.