Messages of Hope in the Dust:
On arrival at Ground Zero, Nicola bore witness to the smoke, the dust and the debris. When it settled, it left a film of dust on any surface that had remained intact. On day one, there were a few messages of hope scribbled on windows and cars within the frozen zone. As the days passed these messages expanded like a miraculous tree. Little mementos with flowers, prayers and poems sprung up all over the city. New Yorkers flocked to these bulletin boards, as did the many tourists who followed. It allowed the community to express its feelings at a time when most were lost for words.
Wall of Missing:
“In the aftermath of 9/11 posters of the missing people were put up by their grieving families, in the hopes that someone may have seen them and that perhaps against all odds they had survived and were in a hospital somewhere miraculously waiting to be found. Walls and walls of them, firefighters, cops, office workers, bankers and busboys. Mainly happy photos, taken at family events, face after innocent face, these endless walls of posters grew daily throughout the city. They contained key descriptions, eye color, height etc. It was impossible not to be moved by them. I remember standing with a passenger in Grand Central, both of us overcome with grief, two strangers crying together over someone we had never met.
I knew the impact viewing these posters had on me and everyone else that had seen them first hand so I went about trying to put together as many as I could”.
Called the “Wall of the Missing” these images are courtesy of The National September 11 memorial Museum, courtesy of The Sisters of Charity on behalf of St. Vincent’s Hospital Manhattan.
Flag of Honor:
This flag was created using a salvaged door from Fort Camden and the stars and script were forged from steel from The World Trade Center and The Freedom Tower.
The three stars represent the emergency workers who gave their lives on September 11th, 2001; the 343 members of the Fire Department of New York, the 37 members of the Port Authority Police Department, and the 23 members of the New York Police Department.
Survivor Tree
by Nicola McClean:
The original Survivor Tree was discovered amid the smoldering rubble of the World Trade Center, limbs lifeless, roots snapped, trunk blackened. It stood only 8 feet tall when uncovered by rescue workers. It was badly burnt and only had one living branch. The tree was not expected to survive. Workers freed this Callery Pear Tree and it was nursed back to health in Van Cortlandt Park, in the Bronx, before it was replanted at the 9/11 Memorial in 2010. Now topping 30 feet, it towers above other trees in Memorial Plaza at Ground Zero.
Nicola McClean created this bronze sculpture post 9/11. It contains metal from the Twin Towers & Freedom Tower. The tree symbolizes life & hope. The exquisite butterflies which adorn the branches are miracles of transformation & resurrection. In flight they represent our freedom, they symbolize change & like the human spirit they are capable of adaption & growth. The Survivor Tree is dedicated to all who were lost on 9-11 and their surviving families. It represents New York and her people, their ability to endure, and their unshakeable belief in a brighter future.
