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Photo/Photos
Photographing 9/11 Memorials-an ethnographic approach The attack on the trade towers and its aftermath was probably the most photographed event in history. Although Ground Zero was officially closed to all but a handful of press professionals with special credentials, a wealth of photos by amateurs and professionals soon surfaced and their graphic images helped New Yorkers and the world get a sense of the horrific events. In an electronic age, still photography emerged as the medium of choice. As soon as the dramatic pictures of the Trade Towers attack and aftermath appeared in newspapers and magazines, we began to see the same images carefully placed within memorials, reproduced on T-shirts and painted in murals. Family photos were also in abundance as relatives and friends of the missing combed their photo albums for formal portraits or casual snapshots to copy onto the thousands of posters that proliferated all over the city. Taped to any available surface, these poignant documents transformed ordinary city walls into photo galleries of the lost. Street vendors around Ground Zero turned a quick profit on cheaply reproduced news photos, selling as many as 7 views for $5.00. Tourists without cameras could buy a disposable one on street corners and as every visitor wanted a record, however imperfect, of themselves at this historic place and moment in time. For over twenty years I've concentrated on documenting urban vernacular art and architecture in New York. Since the early 1990's, I've seen a new tradition of public mourning emerge. Shrines and painted murals often appear on neighborhood streets and walls near the scene of untimely deaths. Working on my own, and with folklorists at City Lore, an organization dedicated to documenting urban culture, I've photographed many of these memorials. Many of us instinctively grabbed our cameras and went out on the street without a clear idea of what to shoot or why. The fact that I was forbidden to get anywhere near Ground Zero was frustrating, but in truth, I felt a little relieved that I didn't have to try to take memorable shots of tragedy while probably getting in the way of rescue efforts in the process. On the other hand, as a documentary photographer, I felt a responsibility to shoot something. On September 13th, I headed downtown and by accident found the early stages of what became New York's biggest and most publicized memorial in Union Square. People had already painted signs and crafted artworks, offering them anonymously as tributes among clusters of votive candles and heaps of flowers. It was comforting to know that New Yorkers were strong enough to respond so quickly and creatively. I immediately decided to try to photograph these responses in as many different places as possible. City Lore assisted my efforts by sending out a mass email asking people to let us know of memorials in their neighborhoods. By hearsay and luck we were able to document a variety of wonderful ephemeral responses in unusual contexts. Most of my photographs are not as dramatic as news photos or as beautiful as art photos, but they cover a wide range of type, place and time. Even now, six months later, I'm still on the lookout. I hope these pictures will become a valuable addition to a New York City archive. 3/1/02 You can see over 100 of Cooper's photographs in an exhibition centering on the City Lore organization, Missing: Streetscape, of a City in Mourning, at the New-York Historical Society (March 5 - May 26, 2002). |