Our 9/11 Tenth Anniversary Portrait … Going the Other Way

I was struggling with what image to present you for the tenth 9/11, as much as I’ve been struggling with the “happening” itself.

Whatever the story or event, Bag works hard every day to highlight that photo which captures the breadth of the story that much better than the others — or offers an angle that tweaks most other imagery for being stereotyped or conventional. In the past week, however, there has been such a mountain, such a barrage of imagery, I’ve sort of shut down.

Readers of The Bag are well aware of my wariness when it comes to memorialization. In the seven years this site has been chronicling the visualization of political culture, it seems the tendency to commemorate has only grown more ritualized and perfunctory. (For just one graphically hakneyed example, see this and weep.) It’s the temptation to turn moments for reflection and introspection into playback reels, voyeuristic eye candy or spectacle that has led so many New Yorkers to flee the formality of this day.

Thankfully, friend and brilliant photographer, Mario Tama, sent me this a couple days ago, a photo unique out of the 9/11-remembrance constellation, if for one thing, by simply managing not to take itself too seriously.

The photo is from “Fashion’s Night Out,” a part of Fashion Week. You’ll notice the Trade Center “Tribute in Light” in the background. And, before you conclude either Mario or I are trivializing, framing the tenth anniversary as a fashion or for being primarily a show, consider the following…. Fashion Week 2001 was just entering its fourth day when the planes hit, throwing the event and the careers of many new designers way off-kilter. Earlier this week, an article in the NYT related how the impact actually led to changes that dramatically opened up the fashion business to new designers. (Now how many industries and institutions, as a result of 9/11, can say they grew more democratic?)

Then, to the extent 9/11 has contributed to America losing its bearings, I also embrace this photo — especially how it highlights the girl in white, a pedestrian beacon channelling the energy of the towers of illumination. Surrounded by people in their dark uniforms, the photo might be seen to offer some different prescriptions going forward: that perhaps we should look for our energy and magnificence closer to street level; that maybe we can all stand to lighten up; and, as compelling as it is to self-consciously relate and record every little thing, we could do as well to keep our big reflections in the background and simply be on our way.