As people, we tend to remember things that made an impact and the stronger the impact the more vivid and more lasting is the memories associated with that event.
Just like, I’m sure, a great many people, I can recall practically everything about that fateful day. What I did, where I went, what I thought of, all of my fears and sorrows.
As creatives we channel our feelings into our art, which not only helps the world see what saddens and concerns us, but also brings people closer together, especially in tragedies like that, which burned a hole in the very sole of us as human beings.
These posters were made at different times for various events and exhibitions, but they were all made in memory of those who lost their lives or their loved ones on this tragic day in our history. You can read the authors’ personal stories and see the artworks commemorating the victims and the heroes of the 9/11.
I’d like to thank all the artists that help make this post happened by sharing their creations, their memories and their thoughts. I’m so happy to be a part of a great designer family that always help one another, especially in the difficult times.
19 years ago I was just heading out to fly to the Colorado International Poster Exhibition when the news all flights were cancelled due New York’s Twin Towers being attacked. Later that night I emailed 70+ designers requesting in their hand writing to write “September 11 2001”. The very first reply was Milton Glaser, here is the poster and names of the participating designers: Seymour Chwast, Alejandro Magallanes, Fons Hickmann, Cedomir Kostovic, Lex Drewinski, François Caspar, Ken Cato, Michael Schwab, Kari Piippo,Rocio Aparicio, Ira Payer, Max KIsman, Vaughan Oliver, Chaz Maviyane-Davies, Ruud van Empel, Henk Raaf, David Tartakover, Istvan Orosz, sandy k, Volodimir Veshtak, Henning Wagenbreth, Finn Nygaard, Jean-Marie Delafontaine, Pablo Lavalley, Ivan Chermayeff, Carlos Gayou, Monica Zacarias, Gertrud Nolte, Jacques Lange, Pierre Neumann, Ben Wang, Jennifer Morla, Steff Geissbuhler, Alberto Bovo, Leena Toivola, Kan Tai-keung, Henry Steiner, Lourdes Zolezzi, Slawomi Iwanski, Xiao Yong, Vladimir Chaika, Charles s Anderson, Dan Fern, Fang Chen, Jean-Benoit, Mike Bax, Lourdes Zolezzi, Dari Bojidar, Claudia Gómez, George Tscherny, Budnik Andrey, Péter Pócs, Alonso Morales, Claudia Sandoval, Gloria Oliden, Ric Riordon, Susana Juarez, Matt Warburton, Patricia Uribe, Phil Risbeck, Michito Kawanishi, Mervyn Kurlansky, Peter Gyllan, and Anthony Beeke.
2 days after…
After the horrific tragedy of September 11, 2001, I thought about the process of creating and disseminating posters in a different way. At the time of the attack, I was teaching my graphic design class at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design in Boston. The two airplanes that crashed into the World Trade twin towers had originated from Boston’s Logan International Airport. Our college’s 13-story building and many tall buildings in and around the Boston area were immediately evacuated as government authorities tried desperately to piece together the puzzle of what had happened.Once at home, I sat with my family throughout that very long day watching the horrific images on television. In the first days after the crisis, news channels were reporting that 6333 people were lost. Following the initial reports, I felt compelled to visually respond to this tragedy. I created a memorial response entitled 9/11: 6333 People Missing. I saved my image as a jpeg and uploaded it to the AIGA website set up the day before to accept visual responses as a response to the tragedy. Later the poster image was uploaded to Rene Wanner’s Posterpage website. Although the final victim total was 2,977 plus the hijackers, the impact of this event throughout the world and my ability to create a visual response that could be shared immediately was a profound experience for me. I realized then that a new paradigm for making and disseminating ‘posters’ arrived with the new millennium.
By Elizabeth Resnick
