Here is New York
Guardian Newsroom

Shirley Dent

The silhouette of a bird suspended in mid-air is not the same as the silhouette of a human being suspended in mid-air. There is only a passing resemblance. One is controlled and symmetrical, in its natural element, the other a horrific sickening parody of the first, disconcerted, desperate.

There are images of both birds and humans silhouetted against the World Trade Center in This is New York, a collection of photographs mainly focused on the aftermath of the September 11, both professional and amateur, and displayed with dignified simplicity. You notice the contrast on the wall nearest to your right as you enter. Image 0607 is a perfect image: of a bird in flight against the broad white architecture of the World Trade Center with blue skies all around. Then as your eyes move up and down through the images you spot those shadows against the white again in image 1484. But something is not right. These shadows are human beings falling to their deaths.

What more can be said or seen of September 11 2001? The first image, deliberately placed at average eye height to confront and confuse as you enter The Newsroom exhibition says as much. It is a sign posted at a memorial site by a New York 'fire girl':

ALL OF YOU TAKING PHOTOS
I wonder if you really see whats here or if you're so concerned with getting that perfect shot that you've forgotten this is a tragedy site not a tourist attraction. As I continually had to move "out of someone's way" as they carefully tried to frame this place mourning, I kept wondering what makes us think we can capture the pain, the loss, the pride + the confusion - this complexity - into a 4x5 glossy

I (heart) my city
Fire girl, NYC, 09-17-01

The people who took the photos in This is New York were not tourist trash, not most at least. Some images are over-posed, over-prolonged, speaking of their art rather than of their act, of simply seeing and speaking. But most capture that confusion and complexity that we all felt and this is not a bad thing. It is part of the story of September 11 and New York on that day and we are story-telling creatures. The most affecting still have that gasp quality, they still make you clutch your mouth in disbelief.

There is one such image on the back wall. It is of a dismembered limb. It is a bloody, brutal and bald image and you are tempted to think 'Who could have stopped and taken that image?' And the answer is only a human being would take such an image because it only has meaning to us as tragedy and loss and confusion and complexity. Because we do not and should not fall from the sky like birds.

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