Twin Towers - A Remembrance

There's something so delicate, yet forceful in Chicago mixed-media artist, Jordan Scott's remembrance of the Twin Towers. This giant 6x6 work - painstakingly put together from 7,500 canceled postage stamps - is one of the most evocative pieces I've seen capturing what we all lost that September day over 5 years ago.

As a former New Yorker, this piece drew me in and then held me in its gaze for a long time. I felt it looking out at me as I gazed into it. I was truly absorbed.

It works on many levels beyond its stunning physical beauty.

Stamps are richly evocative - where did they originate? Who sent them? What letters did they carry? They each represent a person and sadly, all of them are canceled. The artist verified that the number of stamps used to create the actual towers equals the number of people who were lost there that day.

Stamps also have a history - they represent a currency that carries letters to their destination. Just as the people who lived and worked in the Towers carried their stories - each small stamp represents the stories and the expanding web of a larger life they were connected to.

There's a poignant pause created here - as one sifts through layers and associations that tie us back to the abundant life the Towers stood for. The work touches on both the individual and the collective; of people saved, as well as people lost, as the Towers unexpectedly crumbled that day.

Working on so many levels, this is ultimately a hopeful work. It holds our attention - by creating a rich body of associations that bring to life a place and an event that has marked us all.

Douglas Frohman
Chicago 2006