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Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Life Goes On, Almost

Tile wall close up, the village

Photo by myself, in Greenwich Village.

Hand-painted tiles are hung along a chain link fence at 7th Avenue and 11th Street, in The Village. Tiles of various sizes with painted inscriptions and sent from all over the world.

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This impromptu memorial is quite moving, with its handwritten inscriptions fired on clay tiles.

I paid the fence a visit, while en route to Gansevoort Street on the west side.

In New York, we go around our busy lives like nothing ever happened. And then sometimes it all comes back.

Like the other day, I was on the subway and for whatever reason I had a strange feeling. I started panicking about the other subway riders and what I couldn't see. What was under that guy's seat? What's in that person's bag?

And then the subway stopped. We'd reached the station.

I got out and lost myself in the crowd.

Tile wall close up, The VIllage

9/11 Tile Wall, The Village


Related posts: On Looking like a Tourist on Holiday, Welcome to New York and Six Years Ago.

10 comments:

JAMJARSUPERSTAR said...

I imagine it would be quite moving indeed, especialy if you actually read what people have written. If I visit NY it's sort of a place I don't want to come across...
Ciao

http://scarletsculturegarden.blogspot.com
http://jamjarsuperstar.blogspot.com

Hilda said...

That's a lovely memorial. They're for different disasters and not just for one?

Kitty said...

Hi Scarlet
I can understand. Yes, some of the written inscriptions are touching. On the doves there are just lists of victims' names and their ages. It still shocks me.

Hi Hilda
From what I know, there are a few impromptu memorials for 9/11 only. There are stickers on the tile wall of the subway station in Union Square. There's also some sort of thing out here in Park Slope on the street.

Outside fire stations especially, there are framed photos or signs or even areas for flowers. People feel the need to express themselves and they just do it

Olivier said...

de beaux hommages. Un moment se trouvait le "Wall of rememberance" au Saint Vincent's hospital dans Greenwich, vraiment très prenant (je sais si il est encore la. Un sujet qui me tient a cœur, j'ai un ami qui est gravement malade (perte de vue, perte du cote gauche du corps) suite aux attentats.


beautiful tributes. A moment was the "Wall of rememberance" at Saint Vincent's hospital in Greenwich, really taking (I know if he is still here).
A subject that keeps me a heart, I have a friend who is seriously ill (loss of sight, loss of the left side of the body) following the attacks

Ken Mac said...

i wonder how long this corner has before they move all the tiles to the "tile musuem." This went up within days of 9/11. You had a perfect view of the Twin Toweres from that spot on 7th Avenue.

Mom Knows Everything said...

That is absolutely wonderful and very moving!

Kris McCracken said...

Interesting. I wonder how long this will last?

Anonymous said...

It's sad that most of us have forgotten and moved on. I could still feel the tragedy when I went to the site in Feb. It engulfed me. And really, being there 6 and a half years after was chilling and I can't even begin to imagine what you guys went through.
Thank you for showing us that the remembrances still exist.

Eva said...

Oh kitty :insert a big hug here:

I think the memory tiles are very moving. I'm glad we are continuing with our lives, but without forgetting. We need to live but never forget, know what I mean.

Thanks for sharing your pictures. I found those really moving.

BrianC said...

I live near this memorial and walk by it several times a week. It still amazes me that people would remove/steal some of the tiles!