Zana Briski (New York, NY)

Selections from New York City Firehouse Memorial Project

• 145 West 100th Street, Manhattan, Engine 76, Tower Ladder 22, Battalion 11
• 86-53 Grand Avenue, Queens, Engine 287, Ladder 136, Battalion 46
• 25 Pitt Street, Tower Ladder 18, Battalion

4 Gelatin silver prints
11 x 14 inches
Photographed in 2001
Courtesy the artist

On September 11th, I watched the World Trade Center collapse from my nearby rooftop on Bleecker Street.

Over the next few days and weeks I felt and watched the outpouring of grief in the city I love so much. Shrines sprang up everywhere-missing posters, flags, toys, candles, letters, and flowers. I found myself drawn to these shrines, especially at night when things were quiet and they were at their most sacred.

Many of the shrines in my neighborhood were outside the firehouses. Nine men were lost out of eleven, seven men out of nine. I began systematically to record the shrines outside every firehouse in the five boroughs where firefighters were lost: Manhattan, the Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn, and Staten Island. Working at night, all night, every night for a month, I went to sixty-four firehouses, the final one being Engine 10 Ladder 10 at Ground Zero itself.

These three photographs are taken from this larger body of work. They are in honor of the firefighters who gave their lives and a record of our sorrow, love, and gratitude.