Published: September 9, 2010By CAMILO JOSÉ VERGARA
Author, “American Ruins” and “How the Other Half Worships.”
After Sept. 11, 2001, street murals depicting the World Trade Center began to appear in poor neighborhoods across America. Artists approached store owners with their ideas, and in many cases finished their paintings within weeks of the attacks. Although some of them have disappeared, those that are left have rarely been defaced.
In New York City, the murals frequently show firefighters, police officers and emergency medical personnel — often local people known to the painter or to the merchant who commissioned the work. In one Bronx mural, monumental images of a firefighter and a police officer echo the lost twin towers.
Outside New York, the buildings are more often depicted alone — consumed by flames or rising above the water, indestructible, as in a dream. In some murals, the towers look shorter than they really were or are otherwise out of proportion. A painter in Detroit, inspired perhaps by the city’s Renaissance Center, made them look round. Accompanying words express a desire for unity, and a show of caring for the many victims, including New York City itself. In one tough North Philadelphia neighborhood, a mural demands revenge, in large red letters.
It’s surprising to find scattered among America’s poorest and most segregated neighborhoods murals projecting such raw expressions of patriotism. But the artists clearly felt a need to respond to the attacks by celebrating resilience, courage and solidarity with New York City.
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