9-11 Through My Eyes by Susan Fichter

As a native New Yorker, the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center had always been an intimate part of my life. I worked with and knew many people who worked in the buildings. When the towers fell amidst the carnage of 9/11, I was spiritually and emotionally distraught. My husband was one of the few survivors of the disaster. This horrific event affected the city spatially, emotionally, conceptually and spiritually. I created this book to commemorate this tragic historical event. It represents both the buildings in their original form and the deconstructed piles of rubble they became, the memory of the buildings’ former grandeur and the lives lost. The diminishing folds create a sense of perspective. The book is sewn together with sharp edged copper wire, reminiscent of the tangle of steel beams. Painted pages, cut up and collaged, suggest geometric patterning at odds with the formal architectural structure of the intact buildings and the holes in peoples’ lives as a result.