In “9/11: Trials And Triumphs Of The ‘Tribute In Light,’” in the Village Voice, Monika Bravo (CRF 2021) reflects on her memories of the Towers, her lost friend, and the power of the ‘Tribute in Light’ monument twenty years after the tragic events of September 11th, 2001.
As one of “15 artists working on the North Tower’s 91st and 92nd floors as part of the World Views residency program, operated by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council…Colombian-American artist Monika Bravo… filmed hours of time-lapse thunderstorms over Manhattan on September 10 — they constitute some of the last surviving footage taken from inside the towers. Her condensed video poem, Uno Nunca Muere La Víspera (One Never Dies on the Eve [of their death]), is dedicated to her friend Michael Richards, a gifted artist who died in the attacks after falling asleep in his studio watching the Denver Broncos beat the New York Giants 31 to 20…
‘It [‘Tribute in Light’] speaks in the language of absence,’ she says suddenly, remembering the feel of the open-plan studios in the sky that she, Richards, LaVerdiere, and Myoda [other World Views resident artists] shared 20 years ago. ‘It’s about light, but specifically about how light disappears when people die. It’s monumental but occupies no space because it’s made of light — energy, not matter…It’s about nothing but light, which is so pure,’ Bravo says, to my astonishment, as if finishing several of my thoughts. ‘The world needed that monument,’ she adds, before hanging up. ‘If they hadn’t come up with the idea, I’m convinced someone else would have. Right?‘”
Read the full piece here.