Here Was New York
To mark the 5th anniversary of the September 11th attacks, BAC Folk Arts mounted a major photo documentation exhibition, 'Here Was New York: Twin Towers in Memorial Images,' held simultaneously in eleven different galleries in Brooklyn.
September 07, 2006 – September 30, 2006
6:00pm – 8:30pm
'Here Was New York' presented photos documenting the Twin Towers as they appear throughout New York City in vernacular expressions such as wall murals, shrines, custom painting on trucks, logos, graffiti, tattoos, merchandise display, window stickers, and so on. Curated by BAC folklorist Kay Turner, the impetus for the exhibit stemmed from a wish to acknowledge local forms of remembrance that keep the Twin Towers visible to us as we go about our daily post- 9/11 lives. "Never forget" means never forget that day, but in another sense it means never forget what was before that day. The exhibition also paid homage and served as counterpoint to 'Here Is New York,' a photo exhibit which opened immediately after the attacks in 2001. Held in a makeshift gallery in Soho, that remarkable exhibit made it possible for anyone to hang their photos recording the events of September 11th. Hundreds did so and thousands came to see the pictures. 'Here Was New York' relied upon the same democratic principles as its predecessor and invited anyone in New York to submit a photo documenting the Twin Towers as they remain visible in symbolic form throughout the city.