by Ashley Mercado
“This wall represents a space that falls exactly on the trajectory of the heart I have drawn on my map. It continues to be a fascinating experience using a seemingly arbitrary line to create the walking journey I am on. Traveling the country doing Tape Art over the years, I have always been aware of the ‘line’ that the car was making across the nation. It never seemed too far-fetched that the car could use the nation’s interstates and side roads to ‘draw’ pictures, icons, or words – some well over a thousand miles high and wide. So, these two-mile-high hearts on the streets of Manhattan are a nice microcosm of that concept. It creates a route I never would have normally followed. And a symbol of love is a good way to connect all the figures together.” http://tapeart.com/hope/nyc/index.php?master=Patrick_Brown
Acts Of Remembrance
A group of Providence-based public artists, the Tape Artists dedicated five years and 30,000 volunteer hours to complete this project with no outside funding or institutional backing. September Eleventh: An Act Of Remembrance is public art in the physical public domain, simultaneously launched in a hyper-public space of the Internet. Tapeart.com/hope encompasses the public act of each drawing’s creation, the thoughts of the artists, and the observations of the experience. Each tape silhouette pays tribute to the individual it represents, and the website documents each drawing through podcasts, maps, photographs, and auditory components.
“Framing. These silhouettes celebrate the surfaces that they are on. The device of framing is the thing of our daily lives. Every photograph, billboard, display window, t-shirt, movie and magazine that we read are all products of selectively framing the content to pursue and arouse the viewer.
One of the reasons I love drawing in pubic spaces is that though our silhouette drawings frame an area, the drawing exists in an unframed space – the public space – and is framed only by our field of vision. When we do the drawings for Heart One, the documentation will expand to include 360 degree panoramic photographs. These will help illustrate the relationship between the figures and the public spaces they are in.”
http://www.tapeart.com/hope/nyc/index.php?master=Mychal_Judge
An Act Of Remembrance is a citizen-artist response to the collapse of the World Trade Center and the massive loss of life. The portraits are life-sized silhouettes drawn on the city’s buildings and public spaces using a low-adhesive tape that leaves no trace when removed. Though the tape drawings are impermanent, each figure marks a point on a trajectory. Collectively, the individual drawings connect to map out four separate heart-shaped paths that span the entire island of Manhattan, beginning near the World Trade Center site and weaving north up to Harlem. Each of the firemen and airline passengers were rendered in tape with their hands open, to count in groups of 1 to 10 the names of all the fallen.
“…His drawing is counting eight people. Drawing as many people who have passed away has given rise to thoughts related to the balance of volume in relationship to life. A life is a life is a life. Each equally precious. The circumstances of a life’s undoing and demise is unique for each person. Sometimes an extraordinary event creates a context within which we remember that person’s life. In contrast, the Australian librarian, Tibetan Monk and Argentinian stockbroker who lived their life, never related to anything universally remarkable, will eventually pass away without fanfare. When we are drawing the deceased we are not just drawing the individual person, we are remembering their joint circumstance. The weight of the circumstance brings us together. The volume of their passing is exceeded every hour (at the rate of approximately 6,000 people per hour globally). In the calculation of volume vs. weight – our engagements in Afghanistan and Iraq surpass the volume of those who passed away on September Eleventh in short order. I am aware that there may be someone in one of those countries working on an act of remembrance for one of their recently lost loved ones. My thoughts, though, can never settle on volume and I must remain focused on the individuals who we draw and the circumstances that bound us all together.”
http://www.tapeart.com/hope/nyc/index.php?master=Anthony_Jovic
The events of September Eleventh have undeniably altered the course of history. The reactions so many of us have had, from that day to this one, are influenced by the images that have dominated television, newspapers and magazines—images which have led Americans to a global engagement marked by fear. The recreation of fear emotionally manipulates memory, and yet memories are the anchor to our moments of tribute. “Solemn memorial” was a phrase used in many newspapers across the country on the anniversary of September Eleventh, and while many of us quietly remember that day, the act of remembrance takes a different shape.
“To those who see the figures in passing, their iconic nature makes their representational nature easily understood. But their materials and lack of overt message beguiles the connection to the typical visual fare of the street: graffiti and advertising. These tape drawings act as another stranger passed in travel – their stories to be pondered.”
http://www.tapeart.com/hope/nyc/index.php?master=Anthony_Jovic
A participatory act can draw individuals out from crowded notions of fear and pain into a moment of tribute, allowing the clarity of a new experience to recontextualize the event. Without the use of familiar images, the Tape Artists created a possibility for different memories. They provided the opportunity to reframe experience and loss through a physical and virtual walking tour marked by positive gestures and stories about people.
Read more: A Field Guide to the Website | Oklahoma City Hope Mural
