A crucifix sits atop twin towers created in workmanlike fashion from the artist’s silver duct tape.
The towers rest on a circular brick shrine in front of an American flag. Votive candles are visible, as are graffiti on two of the bricks: “USA” and “infinite justice.” The shrine is in Brooklyn, near a Department of Transportation office. Precisely a week after the attack, at 8:48 a.m. on Tuesday, September 18, Department of Transportation workers met in front of their newly- constructed shrine. They put a TV on top, had a moment of silence, and took pictures. Louis Rocco, who built the memorial, wanted to do something to help people mourn. Rocco continues to maintain the shrine, lighting candles and adding new features, like a tree at Christmastime. While he considers himself a patriotic and religious man, he is tolerant of other faiths and even of those who profess no faith, so he hopes that his use of a crucifix will not bother others who see the shrine.

Photograph taken November 26, 2001.

From the exhibit Missing: Streetscape of a City in Mourning, New York Historical Society, photograph by Martha Cooper.

See this image in the MISSING exhibit.