Firefighters in focus at 9/11 Exhibit

Saturday, September 03, 2005
BY MITCHELL SEIDELStar-Ledger Staff

Gary Marlon Suson has seen things most of us would rather forget. He prefers that we remember them.

Suson is the creator of the Ground Zero Museum Workshop in the New York meatpacking district, a collection of photographs and artifacts from his time as a photographer during the cleanup at Ground Zero. Acting with the blessing of a former trustee of the Uniformed Firefighters Association, the city's largest firefighters' union, Suson was able to get as close to recovery operations after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks as one could without being a member of the fire department. This afforded him the opportunity to get intimate shots of firefighters searching for the bodies of their comrades.

The images range from the day- to-day digging operations, like some open pit mine, to the hidden and sometimes oddly preserved scenes found underneath the rubble.

A black and white shot shows bricks and crushed ceiling tiles scattered in front of the turnstiles of the World Trade Center's PATH station, the ceiling appearing to have come down like the roof of a cave. The contrast between what we remember from the intact structure and what Suson's image shows is striking.

Buildings and beams loom over the damaged hull of PATH car #143, unearthed to the open air yet still buried in rubble up to floor level. The shot, taken at night, was printed in sepia, as are most of the black and white shots in the show. The toning helps to take some of what could have been an antiseptic feel away from images that could just as easily been rendered in cold- tone black and white.

Another sepia-toned image shows three older men in fire department rescue gear sitting on a small all-terrain vehicle or "gator" in the mud of the Ground Zero pit. Their part in the recovery process is that of bereaved fathers looking for the remains of their own sons. Their appearance is a combination of emotional and physical fatigue as they take the ride to join the honor guard during the removal of yet another firefighter's remains.

Some of Suson's color photographs are transformed into layered constructions. In one, the central silhouette of a fire department chaplain, back to camera, is separated from the main image along with a firefighter at right and several pieces of debris pulled out of the photo. At the base of the image is a Plexiglas planter-like box filled with rubble. This three-dimensional effect takes the imagery beyond simple photography.

Suson, 33, has said the proceeds of ticket sales to his permanent exhibit will go to six 9/11-related charities. He has been criticized for displaying recovered Ground Zero objects with his photographs. Current administrators of the firefighters' union have taken issue with Suson's portrayal of himself as the union's "official" photographer. However, anyone familiar with the recovery operation has to acknowledge Suson had someone's permission to be that close.
Suson contends he had official permission to remove the objects on display with the photos, including a partial Windows on the World restaurant invoice, a crushed cell phone and a teddy bear.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Thursday denounced Suson's project as exploitative, and firefighters' union officials reportedly said they opposed the display of personal items from Ground Zero.

"You're witnessing what happens when evil people try to destroy something in the name of helping," Suson said of his critics.

Mitchell Seidel writes about photography for The Star-Ledger. He can be reached at (973) 392-1780 or msei del@starledger.com.

Ground Zero 'Freedom Center' Out

NEW YORK, Sept. 28, 2005


New York Gov. George Pataki (AP) Quote "Freedom should unify us. This center has not."

Gov. George Pataki (AP) Bowing to pressure from furious families of victims of the 2001 World Trade Center terror attacks, Gov. George Pataki on Wednesday removed a proposed freedom museum from the space reserved for it at ground zero, saying the project had aroused "too much opposition, too much controversy." He left open the possibility that a new spot at the former World Trade Center site could be found for the International Freedom Center, but officials for the proposed museum said they considered the project dead.

The decision followed months of acrimony over the International Freedom Center, with Sept. 11 families and politicians saying that the museum would overshadow and take space from a separate memorial devoted to the 2,749 World Trade Center dead and would dishonor them by fostering debate about the attacks and other world events. "Freedom should unify us. This center has not," Pataki said. "Today there remains too much opposition, too much controversy over the programming of the IFC. ... We must move forward with our first priority, the creation of an inspiring memorial to pay tribute to our lost loved ones and tell their stories to the world."

Pataki said the Freedom Center cannot be part of a cultural building located near the proposed trade center memorial. But he left open the possibility that the center could find a home elsewhere on the 16-acre (6.4-hectare) site. Pataki said he would direct the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. — the agency he created to rebuild the site — to explore other locations for the center. Freedom Center officials, however, said in a statement that they do not believe there is a viable alternative location at the trade center site. "We consider our work, therefore, to have been brought to an end," the museum said. "We are deeply disappointed that the will could not be found to continue the development of the International Freedom Center at this hallowed site."

A campaign by some Sept. 11 families to oust the museum from space reserved for it at ground zero had grown in recent months to include four police and fire unions, an online petition with more than 40,000 signatures, and several politicians including Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. "Goodbye and good riddance," said Rep. Vito Fossella, one of three congressmen who had threatened hearings on federal funding if the museum stayed where it was. "The IFC will not stand on the hallowed grounds of the World Trade Center site."

In addition to the terrorist attacks, the Freedom Center planned exhibits on such topics as Abraham Lincoln, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., the fall of the Berlin Wall, the civil rights movement, the Declaration of Independence and the South African constitution. The museum would also include a section on the world's response to Sept. 11 and a film that links the victims' backgrounds to periods in history. Opponents charged the museum could include inappropriate exhibits that would distract attention from the proposed memorial and could foster anti-American debate about the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Some families have opposed the museum as much for its location as its content; they say it would sit in a prominent part of ground zero that would obscure the memorial museum. Although most families who have expressed opinions are against the Freedom Center, a few have supported it, including the proposed museum's vice chairman, Paula Grant Berry, whose husband died at the trade center.

Rebuilders are planning a separate, underground Sept. 11 memorial museum. On the rest of the 16-acre site, they are planning five office towers, a performing arts complex and a transit hub.