Exhibition "Faces of Ground Zero" Reminds People of the Importance of Life

A photo exhibition entitled "Faces of Ground Zero – 10 Years Later" is currently underway in New York City's Time Warner Center. Marking the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the exhibition brings to life some of the extraordinary individuals who were personally affected¹ by the tragedy.

CRI's correspondent Shen Ting has more.

 
The terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center, which occurred nearly ten years ago, are an event that no one will be forgetting any time soon. It was a major event in world history, and one that has spurred artists, songwriters, authors and photographers to capture the moment in their own way.

Photographer Joe McNally chose to shift the focus from remembering tragedy to highlighting the people that were directly affected by the event. The exhibition, Faces of Ground Zero, features more than 50 original life-size photos of firefighters and other uniformed rescuers, families of victims, and survivors².

For each person, two photos are on display – one shot in the immediate³ aftermath of 9/11, and the other, a recently captured image revealing where the subject is today and how 9/11 indelibly affected the subject's life. For the photographer, the exhibition allows him to contribute to the memory of all those affected by the tragic⁴ event.

"I think I was just trying to make a contribution. I'm not a firefighter or a police officer. I'm a photographer. How do you make some small contribution, somehow? I kind of hit on this project as something potentially worthwhile."

McNally said the first group of pictures was shot only ten days following the tragedy. When viewed alongside the second group of photographs taken ten years later, noticeable changes are instantly visible.

"Obviously, it was very stressful time. People were very emotional. But what I found ten years later was the folks that I've stayed in touch with, and came back and photographed them, there's amazing power of the human spirit. Lives are positive. People are doing things. They're living their lives. They are going forward. And to me, there are tremendous upswings from that time. And certainly, visually, if you look at some of these folks and their pictures within weeks of 9/11, and you look at their pictures now, it's like two different people."

Juana Lomi, a paramedic working at a downtown hospital in Manhattan, is one of the featured figures in this photo exhibition. She was one of the first responders on the scene ten years ago.

"Our hospital, New York Downtown Hospital, was the hospital that received the most patients of all hospitals in the city, because we are only about three blocks away from the World Trade Center. That's the community we serve. So we received all kinds of patients, from those who were just lightly wounded to the really critical patients, all throughout the day. The hospital not only served the patients but was also like assisting people that were traumatized because of everything that happened."

Compared with the situation ten years ago, Lomi believes that people are more prepared to deal with an emergency of that scale, should one occur again, thanks to a greater amount of training and practice carried out by emergency service staff members.

"We continuously receive different training to make sure that we know how to respond in an emergency. I feel that we are aware that once something happens and you wake up and you try to correct the situation, this was totally new to all of us, not just the paramedics, firefighters, cops, anybody that was there. It was totally new. But I think we learnt a lot. And we are constantly getting trained to do that kind of work in an emergency response."

Judith Gardner is a local resident living in Queens, New York. She thinks highly of the exhibition, which evokes⁵ memories of those unforgettable days.

"It brings it back to me and it makes me reflect on the importance of the life and what that day means to the entire city of New York."

Michelle is a tourist visiting from the U.K. She happened to stumble across the exhibition as she visited the Time Warner Center. She said she admires the work, and praises the photographer's efforts in helping⁶ people remember something about the day.

"Absolutely incredible. People sometimes forget things too easily and go back to how things were, and you forget some of these people lost family members and friends. Although life goes on, you've still got to remember about these things, and never forget them."

Unlike Michelle, Rob Davidson is a photographer who's been following Joe McNally's work for some time. His visit to the exhibition was no accident. Rob hopes that the photographer can find a permanent home for his poignant⁷ images in the future.

"I'm really glad that the images have found a place to be displayed where the general public can come and see the stories, and it's fitting that it's so close to the tenth anniversary of September 11. I look forward to them finding a more permanent home and more people being able to see them in the future. I hope things can work out so that he can have a permanent display of these."

For CRI News, this is Shen Ting from New York.

1 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

2 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者

3 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

4 tragic   

adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的

参考例句：

• The effect of the pollution on the beaches is absolutely tragic.污染海滩后果可悲。
• Charles was a man doomed to tragic issues.查理是个注定不得善终的人。

5 evokes   

产生，引起，唤起( evoke的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The film evokes chilling reminders of the war. 这部电影使人们回忆起战争的可怕场景。
• Each type evokes antibodies which protect against the homologous. 每一种类型都能产生抗同种病毒的抗体。

6 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

7 poignant   

adj.令人痛苦的，辛酸的，惨痛的

参考例句：

• His lyrics are as acerbic and poignant as they ever have been.他的歌词一如既往的犀利辛辣。
• It is especially poignant that he died on the day before his wedding.他在婚礼前一天去世了，这尤其令人悲恸。