The Parrish Art Museum in Water Mill presents Joel Meyerowitz “AFTERMATH: Images from 9/11,” 40 photographs that depict the physical devastation of the World Trade Center and serve as a backdrop for moments of courage, compassion, and solidarity, on view from September 10 through November 7.
Coinciding with the 20th anniversary of the attacks, the exhibition features exclusive images by Meyerowitz, who was the sole photographer given unimpeded access to “Ground Zero.” Joel Meyerowitz “AFTERMATH” serves as an elegy to the thousands of people who lost their lives on 9/11 — while capturing the tireless efforts of police, firemen, construction workers, engineers, and volunteers from around the country.
Recently acquired by the Museum and drawn from Meyerowitz’s extensive archive, the images originate from a unique set of contact prints — photographs printed on a 1:1 scale from negatives. Presenting a poignant, condensed view of the remediation effort, the selection spans the nine months when Meyerowitz was at Ground Zero, which was fenced off and classified as a crime scene. With consistent access, Meyerowitz documented its transformation from a place of devastation to cleared bedrock. Shooting day and night, he photographed “the pile,” as the World Trade Center came to be known, and more than 800 people working there daily in photographs of great beauty that convey the devastation of the site and anguish of their subjects.
Joel Meyerowitz “AFTERMATH” is introduced by an ominous panoramic view of Lower Manhattan where the twin towers sit beneath a billow of encroaching dark clouds. Taken by Meyerowitz in 1983 from the window of his loft on West 19th Street, it is simply named Looking South. Titles of the photographs in the exhibition are often no more than a location, such as Corner Liberty & West and North Tower. These objective labels belie the impact of the image: Interior Building West & Liberty shows a once-elegant space in ruin, with haphazardly strung construction lights and the message “PRAY” traced in thick soot. Firemen in South Tower 2001 depicts a group of workers dwarfed by the pile of rubble that was formerly a beacon of architectural achievement.
The entire set of Meyerowitz’s photographs form an archive at the Museum of the City of New York. The Aftermath series was the focus of a 2006 book, “Aftermath: World Trade Center Archives” published by Phaidon, and an exhibition organized by the U.S. Department of State that traveled worldwide from 2002 to 2005.
For the month of September, first responders and healthcare workers will be granted free admission to the Museum thanks to Bank of America.