Photo credit: 9/11 Memorial staff
Accession Number: C.2019.20.23
Dimensions: 18 in X 12 in
Dimensions (Metric): 45.72 cm X 30.48 cm
Credit Line: Gift of Joel Winston, instructor
Description
Crayon drawing by an adolescent depicting an American flag, with orange, yellow, and red crayon used to represent fire below the flag and "AMERICA AT WAR!" written in the flames.
Historical Notes
Art teacher Joel Winston gave his art students at the Monroe Academy for Visual Arts & Design in the Bronx an assignment in the initial weeks after 9/11: visualize their impressions of the attacks without consulting the images and footage that were proliferating in the media coverage. Since many of the high school students had witnessed the attacks firsthand from their classroom windows, Winston wanted them to process that experience through their individualized memories and sensory perceptions. The resulting works were unique and visceral, as some students depicted what they saw while others focused on the perpetrators and the broader impacts of terrorism and war.