August 28, 2006

In keeping with the theme of the book, I'd like to draw attention to several exhibitions and events next week in the New York area.

SEPTEMBER 6: At 6:30 p.m., the New York City Fire Museum will hold its opening reception for photographer Joe McNally's outsize and overwhelming "Faces of Ground Zero" exhibit, showcasing large-than-life Polaroids of people affected by the events of 9/11. Joe's work is described at length in the book.

SEPTEMBER 7: Bolivar Arellano Gallery, downtown, will display "WTC Ground Zero Photos," on view through September 24. Bolivar, shooting for the New York Post on September 11, 2001, was under Tower Two when it descended upon him, barely escaping with his life. In Watching the World Change, he describes his reactions to working near freelance photographer Bill Biggart, who lost his life in the collapse of Tower One.

SEPTEMBER 8: A memorial Mass will be held at 7:30 p.m. at St. John the Baptist Church in Yonkers, New York, by Father Gerard Critch (who appears in the book), featuring the music of the Heavenly Lullabies project, organized by Dr. Kathy Reilly Fallon, with proceeds going to children affected by Hurricane Katrina.

SEPTEMBER 11: St. Paul's Chapel (Broadway at Fulton) and Trinity Church (Broadway at Wall Street), steps from the site of the attacks, will hold an all-day rememberance, "One World...One Hope," beginning with an interfaith ceremony and ringing of the bells at 8:35 a.m. in the St. Paul's churchyard.

Among the photo shows already up around town include images posted on the fence outside Ground Zero by the World Trade Center Memorial Museum, in consort with the new Tribute Center, 120 Liberty Street. Many of the images come from the Herculean photographic project, "here is new york: a democracy of photographs," organized in the weeks after September 11 by Alice Rose George, Gilles Peress, Michael Shulan (now helping to establish the curatorial direction of the eventual memorial museum), and Charles Traub. Their efforts are explored at length in Watching the World Change. Also getting a lot of attention is "Elegy in the Dust: September 11th and the Chelsea Jeans Memorial," a real-world diorama -- clothing, shelves, dust, ashes, and all -- showing the devastated downtown storefront, intact, at the New-York Historical Society, 170 Central Park West.