By Clara Atwell, Associate Business Editor
After the terrorist attacks of 9/11, the American people were left devastated and at a loss as to how to react and move on. There had not been an attack on U.S. soil since Pearl Harbor, and suddenly thousands of people were killed in a heinous and horrifying massacre that was quite possibly preventable by an increase in security measures.
It wasn’t known then, but the effects of this historic attack would alter the entire future of the United States.
Within a month of the attacks, the United States invaded Afghanistan, marking the beginning of a long and controversial war. To this very day, people cannot get on an airplane without going through a series of detectors guarded by stern-faced TSA agents, and many travelers are subject to xenophobic pat-downs and screenings.
Airports — once bustling with excitement — are now stifled by the constant air of panic and caution.
Yet despite the terrorists’ cruel intentions and their success in instilling fear upon us, we have bounced back. The 9/11 Ground Zero Memorial reflects the resilience and perseverance of the American people.
This was the vision of Larry Silverstein.
Silverstein is the chairman of Silverstein Properties, the company possessing a 99-year lease on the World Trade Center (WTC) property. Silverstein signed the lease for the World Trade Center in the July of 2001, two months before 9/11.
According to the Silverstein Properties website, he has focused much of his time and energy into rebuilding the World Trade Center since the bombings.
“I’ve been working as a creative consultant for Silverstein Properties and have had the chance to know Larry and see his vision for architecture excellence, which I express to many associates and guests at the new WTC,” Robert Marcucci, the Creative Consultant for Silverstein Properties, said.
In March this year, I was in New York along with 11 other student journalists from VHS. We had the privilege of visiting the reflection pools, footprints of where the original WTC stood.
But more significantly, we also were granted the honor of viewing the 69th floor of the 4 World Trade Center. Here, some of the best street artists in the world were invited by Marcucci to transform this space into a visual masterpiece.
“I gave the artists free range to create what they love most with very little guidelines: a few regulations as to censorship, but very minor,” Marcucci said. “I suggested to them that should they be inspired [and try] to integrate revolving themes of the surrounding area — New York City and its inhabitants [as well as] 9/11— rebirth, strength and patriotism.”
I gazed at the murals covering the surfaces of the walls, windows and floor, designed with mediums ranging from ballpoint pen to acrylic paint, and I was in awe. These artists had used grafitti — typically placed illegally on the sides of buildings, subway cars and bridges — to transform the space from the site of a terrible tragedy into a place of hope.
The attackers would be horrified by the artistic freedom displayed as a response to their actions.
I walked around stunned, as I looked out at the city. The window in front of me displayed an intricate stenciled image of a woman with birds for hair. The city sparkled under the setting sun.
I couldn’t help but feel disbelief, as I knew I was standing next to the site of one of the most painful events in United States history. I continued watching as cars and people bustled from place to place, slowing down only when they came across Ground Zero.
Home in my bed, reflecting on the experience I had on level 69, I came to a conclusion within myself. I realized that time will not stop, even for the heartbroken.
People will move on and continue their busy lives, they will hurry through the streets and they will stand at the top of a building admiring the beautiful skyline. That doesn’t mean they will forget, not as long as they take a bit of time to remember.
Somehow, this “gallery in the sky,” as Marcucci calls it, helped me to come to that realization. That’s what true art does, whether it’s the Mona Lisa, Starry Night or a mural on the floor depicting flowers for each life lost on 9/11.
True art, like this gallery, causes us to ponder the realities and visions of the past, present and future.