Art as a Means of Reckoning with 9/11 Deaths

            Like most other New Yorkers, I speed-walk everywhere I go and tend to have tunnel vision when it comes to getting to my destination. For this reason, I rarely notice street art or graffiti – even if I walk past it every single day. In this case, I would estimate that I’ve walked over this vibrant and intricate mural on Broadway between 72^nd and 73^rd streets hundreds of times, considering I work in the building around the corner from it. It was only once I read our class blog assignment that I truly noticed it for what it is: a thoughtful work of art that is presumably dedicated to the tragedy of September 11^th, 2001.

            At the center of the mural are the Twin Towers, underneath a black cross and painted on top of what appears to be angel wings. To the left of the towers and underneath the wings, there is a head facing away and another head above it looking down on the towers and cross. Upon further inspection, I noticed that the head on top seems to be filled in with some white paint I believe could be clouds set against the light blue paint that may represent the blue sky. Coming out of the bottom part of the mural are a number of shapes – that I assume symbolize the spirits of those killed on 9/11 – that appear to be ascending into the ‘sky’. It’s also worth noting that inside the angel wings and underneath the towers, it almost looks like fingers protruding out the sides of the towers as if they’re being lifted up by a divine being’s hands. Given that the artist painted a large cross above the towers (and four other crosses to the lower left of the big one), we can deduce that he/she made this mural from a Christian perspective. Much like the spiritualism that flourished after the carnage of the Civil War, this mural seems to be a visual manifestation of one way of reckoning with death.

            Because the 9/11 terror attacks wreaked such havoc and devastation on America, and especially New York, it’s entirely plausible that this mural is meant to evoke a sense of comfort in viewers by depicting the lost ‘spirits’ as flying upwards from the carnage and towards a better place like Heaven. The artist further soothes the viewer by situating the towers atop angel wings and underneath the top head, which one could assume represents God. I would argue that the artist behind this mural would likely subscribe to William James’ religious posture regarding suffering, in that he/she used religion, namely Christianity, to confront the acute and boundless suffering that followed 9/11. Those affected by 9/11 can look upon this mural and feel comforted by the artist’s notion that those we lost on that fateful day ascended to a better place and were welcomed there by a divine being like God. While this isn’t necessarily an embrace of suffering, it is definitely a more accepting and assuaging approach to the suffering of 9/11.