An interview with Joel Meyerowitz,

May 10, 2002 8:39 AM

An interview with Joel Meyerowitz, the photographer granted permission to document the recovery, reclamation, demolition, and excavation work underway at the World Trade Center site. "I try to take pictures that make sense photographically, that make sense visually as art. I don't shoot evidence exclusively. I don't copy. But visual evidence is important to record. The stuff in the background is historically important and it feeds you some of the feel of the place."
posted by junkbox (5 comments total)

Sorry - the permanant link isn't available yet, but I thought it was worth posting anyway.
posted by junkbox at 8:41 AM on May 10, 2002

How do you go back and edit metafilter posts? So that tomorrow, when the permanent link is available, you can change this post?
posted by engelr at 8:49 AM on May 10, 2002

Wow. Great link (even if temporary). As someone who spent a fair amount of time living in lower Manhattan, I still can't wrap my brain around the facts.

I can't wait to see the end-result of this - something beautiful and sad and moving, that will inspire joy and tears (much like seeing Schindler's List did for me).
posted by ebarker at 9:29 AM on May 10, 2002

This is the permanent link.
posted by mikeg at 9:48 AM on May 10, 2002

engelr, you can't edit posts retroactively. But matt might fix a specific one if you ask. He fixes most of the HTML errors as it is.

They've shown him on Nightline a couple of times, and I think NBC Nightly News did a segment on him. His stuff is amazing -- he uses large-format cameras, and has many massive prints already. He felt uncomfortable admitting it, but there's often great beauty in the destruction (q.v. the photo I use on my blog). I wish he had been able to get a corps going, but that was probably too much to expect given the safety and interference issues. From an historical documentation standpoint, I think this is tremendously important.

(An expected irony is that this would make a great companion to the records of the complex's construction -- but many were naturally lost in the collapse.)
posted by dhartung at 11:20 AM on May 10, 2002