On Monday night I went to Campbell Hall on the campus of UCSB to see Joel Meyerowitz's lecture. Joel Meyerowitz is an accomplished photographer who defied the government to create a historical record of ground zero after September 11th. Mr. Meyerowitz did a brief introduction of how he came to realize that he wanted to do this and the struggle that he had to fight just to be able to do it. He then presented a collection of photos from the archive and the story behind each one.
Mr. Meyerowitz spent 12-14 hours a day at ground zero for 9 months photographing the aftermath of the attack, the clean up, the people, and the neighborhood surrounding ground zero. The presentation was very powerful and moving. One particular story that he shared with us was that of a woman who was operating one of the many excavators removing debris.
The story goes that whenever a body was found the workers had to identify them as either a civilian or a police officer/firemen. If the body was identified to be a police officer/firemen then the body was wrapped in an american flag and carried out by a honor guard. If the body was that of a civilian it was placed in a bag and carried out. So, whenever a body was found the workers either called for a "flag" or a "bag". Well, in this one instance this woman while moving debris came across the body of a civilian. The person who identified the body called for a bag, but this particular woman said no bring a flag. An argument then ensued between the two of them. This woman determined to have this body taken out in a flag lowered the jaws of her excavator over the body in protest till a flag was brought. From that point on every body removed from ground zero was covered in a flag.
Mr. Meyerowitz's presentation was exceptional and very moving.
2 comments:
This sounds like a very interesting lecture. A sad one but interesting.
This sounds awesome. I'm jealous. I bet the images were powerful. I'm going to try to look this guy up online.
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