AMERICA IN PASSING: ONLOOKERS AT GROUND ZERO
A photo essay by Jason Eskenazi: 11/23/01

Editor's Note: To commemorate the September 11 terrorist tragedy EurasiaNet is reprinting this photo essay that originally appeared November 23, 2001.

There is a democracy passing by Ground Zero - near the site of the World Trade Center collapse on September 11. African Americans stand by Jews, who stand by Mid-Westerners, who stand by gay couples, who stand by white-collared Wall Streeters. Americans are standing by Americans: all looking in disbelief at the empty place where the World Trade Center towers once stood. These panoramic views, with my back to the destruction, show only the onlookers. Some are mourning their loved ones. Some have cameras. Some pay tribute, some bring their children, some cry, some still wait but no one passes by unaffected.

When the September 11 attack occurred I was in Ukraine on the Black Sea. There was no way for me to get back to New York, and I let it go as a missed event as a photojournalist. But I am from New York; the images from the WTC kept me awake at night, and I knew I had to get back. I finally returned to New York in October. I spent days outside looking at others as they viewed the destruction, and I saw in their faces a mirror of America. So I started to turn my lens on them. Every day I would follow the green fences and barricades that kept people out. I would hang out on Broadway and Dey street when the light was right and then move to other corners on Barclay and Greenwich Streets. I chose the panoramic camera because it seemed that I was recording a panorama of America. A selection of my photographs follows.

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Posted November 23, 2001 © Eurasianet
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