September 11, 2001, New York City was shaken to its core when two jet airliners
crashed into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. In the wake of the chaos,
New York based Irish photographer Nicola McClean responded in the only
way she knew how; she picked up her camera and took to the streets
to try and capture the confusion and panic that surrounded her.
Nicola McClean has created an exhibition called Ground Zero 360,
to honor the victims and their families of the terror attacks on the World Trade Center,
and to never forget the sacrifice of so many innocent people on that terrible day.
In 2011, Nicola exhibited her stunning collection of images to the public for the first time.
The spectator is able to discover, through Nicola’s images, the startling aftermath
of one of the most tragic events in American history – seeing what she saw,
hearing the stories she heard and meeting the people she met,
particularly the heroic men and women of the New York City Emergency Services.
Through harrowing visuals, heartbreaking “missing posters” and a unique panoramic installation,
Ground Zero 360 invites you to step into the past and feel what eight million
New Yorkers were feeling in the days that followed the attacks.
Visitors are able to hear the city’s previously unreleased
emergency radio calls from that morning, and touch a fragment of
twisted steel I-beam and broken granite from the World Trade Center.
Personal artifacts lent by families of police officers and firefighters who
lost their lives at the World Trade Center, crosses cut from World Trade Center
steel by ironworkers, and a flag that flew over Ground Zero are also
part of the exhibit. Recent additions to the collection include a “Survivor Tree”
cast in bronze and steel from the World Trade Center and the Freedom Tower
and symbolic “towers” engraved with the names of all 2,996 victims killed on September 11th.
This exhibition has the support of the National 9-11 Memorial and Museum,
and has the support of The 9-11 Families (911families.org).
